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ranwing · 5 years

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Kadam Fic: Learning To Fly (14/?)

Title: Learning to Fly Series: A New Direction (was Season Four Remix) Pairing(s), Characters(s): Kadam, Kurt Hummel, Adam Crawford, Burt Hummel, Rachel Berry, Santana Lopez, Carmen Tibideaux, Cassandra July, Artie Abrams, Tina Cohen-Chang, Elliot “Starchild” Gilbert, Dani, Adam’s Apples, Original Characters Rating: PG13 (rating may change) Genre(s): canon divergence. Parts: 14/?

Summary: As another school year starts at NYADA, Kurt seemed to have it all. The respect of his teachers, a group of wonderful friends and best of all, getting to live with the man that he’d come to love. So of course the universe would throw a few curve balls in his direction.

A/N - Three chapters posted today (chapters 13-15).

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter 13

One AO3

“Ten minutes to curtain!” A production assistant rushed through each of the dressing rooms, calling out the alert. “Ten minutes! Everyone get to the stage for Professor Carmody.”

Kurt had been getting into his costume when the call came, leaving him to hurry to the stage area still in his slippers and his shirt only half buttoned. Around him, the company huddled together as they waited for their director to address them while the audio techs double-checked the microphones that all the actors discretely wore. Most of the company were fully dressed for the opening numbers, their hair and makeup complete and he almost didn’t recognize his friends in the crowd. Jamie was dressed in a ragged prison uniform, a cap covering his head and makeup that looked like streaks of dirt and bruises staining his skin.

Rachel was nearly unrecognizable in her beggar costume. Her makeup was done to give her a gaunt appearance, with deep hollows carved under her cheekbones and shadows under her eyes. Her hair was tucked under a stained cap and a tatty shawl was draped over the shoulders of her threadbare dress. His eyes darted around the crowd, trying to pick out Analisa and Katya and his friends gave nods of recognition to him, and nervous smiles of support.

Around the actors, the tech teams gathered, and Kurt nodded greetings to his friends there. All the elements of the production had drawn together and all their efforts over the past few months was about to pay off. They were a united team, ready to put their best work out there for the waiting audience.

Professor Carmody arrived, for once looking neat and not displaying the stress that they were used to seeing from her. She had done everything in her power to make her grand vision come to life and bar managing the show from the wings, her task was nearly done.

With a smile, she motioned for everyone to gather as closely as nearly a hundred students were able to. “Okay everyone… I’m not going to make a big speech,” she assured her students. “I just wanted to thank you all for your hard work and dedication to our show. NYADA has never staged a production on this scale and this would never have been possible without all of you giving the kind of effort that you have.

“Tonight, this is about you. Actors, costumers, technical teams… all of you. I have never been so proud of a team or more confident that you will be successful tonight. The only instructions that I have now is to relax. You all know what you’re doing. Go out there and enjoy yourselves and show what you can do. Break a leg everyone!”

The group cheered, finally giving in to the excitement of their first official performance. People moved to hug their friends, wishing them well and those in the opening act hurried to take their marks before the curtain rose. Kurt rushed over to hug Rachel and his girls.

“Oh my God… I can’t believe it’s finally here,” Rachel gasped, her eyes wide and clutching at Kurt with a desperate strength. Kurt didn’t pull back, even though he’d probably have bruises on his arms.

“It’s going to be great,” he promised her, giving her a quick kiss to the top of her head so he wouldn’t damage her makeup. “I’m going to finish getting dressed so I can watch you all from the wings.”

At the announcement that the curtain was going up in five, Jamie took a deep breath. “Okay guys… this is it! Break a leg!”

In the orchestra box, Kurt saw the musicians making their final preps and he finally was struck by the fact that their moment had arrived. There was no more time for doubts.

“I’ll see you all on stage,” he promised, feeling the first trace of real anticipation hit him.

As he arrived at his dressing room, the first strains of the overture reached his ears. There was no more time to worry. There was just the performance to focus on. He reached for the tie that went with his costume and looped it about his neck, his mind focused on his final preparations.

* * *

In hindsight, Finn should have expected that the show would be spectacular, but he had little to really base his expectations on. His experiences with New Directions didn’t come close to anything like this, with their basic costumes and choreography. And he’d never had a lot of interest or knowledge about musical theater outside of watching Rachel perform solos that she felt showcased herself best. There was the failed Rocky Horror show that he had a role in, and West Side Story but full productions didn’t seem to be a priority at McKinley. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that this was his first real experience with a full production.

He’d made sure to read a bit about what the musical entailed so he’d be able to follow the storyline and really appreciate what Kurt and Rachel had put so much effort into. Just judging from the opening number, he could reasonably argue that there wasn’t a professional show that could claim to have better actors, let alone sets and costumes.

Despite the fact that he had come specifically to see Kurt and Rachel, he found himself enjoying the beginning of the show and appreciating the other performers. He fully expected the show to be absolutely spectacular and he wasn’t disappointed. The cast was, to an individual, absolutely phenomenal. The young man playing the lead had a stunning voice and was a riveting presence on stage. Even with the knowledge that he was a university student, Finn could totally believe that he was a French convict. And the guy playing Javert was just fantastic, with the type of baritone voice that you didn’t see too often with the way he balanced the depth of his tone with a crispness that added an interesting dimension. They sounded incredible together and Finn thought that even if Kurt and Rachel weren’t performing, that this show was well worth seeing.

The opening songs focused on Jean Valjean as he was released from prison and left to wander the countryside to look for honest work. While the sets on stage gave a clear impression of farmland, the designers took it a step further by projecting an image of a field or orchard behind the actors that gave the scenes a sense of depth and expressed the passage of time.

He watched avidly as Valjean pleaded for a day’s work or a place to lay his head but was turned away because he carried a letter of parole and bore a prisoner’s brand. Wherever he went, he was turned away, never given a chance to work a day’s labor of find a place to rest his head at night. He grew increasingly desperate and angry and being turned away from every door when he was offered a night’s rest by a kind-hearted bishop.

He bit his lip anxiously during the theft that nearly sent Valjean back to prison, but the generosity of the bishop saved him and gave him a renewed perspective on life. He could viscerally feel Valjean’s shame at robbing the man who’d shown him such kindness and determination to make his life worthy of what he’d been given. His vow to honor the bishop’s generosity and faith in his humanity.

The music began to swell and Finn knew that this was where the story would truly begin. The stage lights fell softly on a group standing towards the back of the stage, huddled together as a light dusting of fake snow began to waft around them. Offstage fans began to blow, giving the clear impression of a harsh winter arriving to torment those least able to withstand the hardship.

He knew that Rachel was in this number and tried to pick her out from the crowd of men, women and children. He listened carefully for her particular voice and found it nearly impossible to do so. Rather than trying to make her voice stand out from the chorus, Rachel was blending seamlessly with the other singers. It was only as the group stepped forward, pleading with the audience that he was able to pick her out; dressed in rags and cradling a bundle in her arms that was made to look like she was holding a baby. Rather than the mugging that he remembered from her previous attempts at acting, the desperation in her expression appeared genuine.

He smiled, glad that she was doing so well. She’d had a lot of challenges the past few years and a lot of disappointments to get past, most of her own making. But he couldn’t help from being happy to see how far she’d come and the nearly limitless potential before her.

Finn couldn’t resist glancing at the stern woman sitting at his side, amused at the bored expression on her face. She was clearly here for one thing only and she wouldn’t be happy until Kurt was standing on that stage for her. He wondered if she knew what role Kurt was playing because if she was aware that she would be seeing him in more than an ensemble spot, she’d probably be leaping out of her skin.

Oh no… she was already tapping her foot impatiently. Finn tried to remember where Kurt’s character was supposed to show up, hoping that it would be soon. Otherwise he was in for an uncomfortable evening.

* * *

Kurt was grinning from ear to ear as he watched Rachel on stage with the rest of the ensemble. She looked and sounded fantastic and when her part in the number ended, was there to greet her when she hurried off the stage.

“Oh my God! You were great!” he insisted, giving her a hug.

“Thanks!” she gasped, accepting his embrace before reluctantly pulling away. “But I’ve got to run and get ready for the next number. You’ll be watching?”

Kurt nodded, letting her go. “Of course,” he assured her.

Rachel gave him a grateful smile before hurrying to the women’s quick-change area. The crowded room was a swarm of activity as actresses changed in and out of costumes as they got ready for different sets.

She quickly stripped out of her costume, handing them off to a costuming tech to be put away, leaving her basic underpinnings. Hurrying over to the makeup table, she pulled the pins from her hair to free it and teased it up to make it look frizzy and unkept. Picking up a lipstick in a vulgar shade of red, she colored her lips and then smeared it a bit with the back of her hand.

Looking thoroughly like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet, she checked her time and could hear the actress playing Fantine starting the “I Dreamed a Dream” number, leaving her just enough time to get into costume and find her mark. She got into the garishly patterned stockings and corset before adding a shabby red dress that put her cleavage and legs on full display. Fluffing up her hair one last time, she hurried back to the stage where Katya was waiting with the other actresses portraying the prostitutes.

Katya looked like she was several weeks since her last bath and gave her a grin that displayed the pair of blacked out teeth. Damn, Rachel thought. She could have done that too.

“Ready?” Katya asked, with an impish glint in her eyes.

Rachel nodded, tossing back her hair. “Let’s do this.”

It was difficult to find their marks on the darkened stage while the spotlight was on Fantine but Rachel found the crates where they prostitutes were to gather and hoisted herself to sit up on one of them, spreading her legs and bunching up her skirt to show off her bloomers and stockings. Katya leaned against one of the crates, thrusting out her chest and trying to look provocative.

As Fantine’s tragic song drew to a close, the audience applauded and the stage fell dark before a projection of a port scene at night was cast over the back of the stage. Three young men stumbled to the front dressed in sailor uniforms, laughing and jostling one another.

“I smell women, smell ‘em in the air,” he proclaimed lasciviously. “Think I’ll drop me anchor in that harbor over there.”

His friend laughed and nodded enthusiastically. “Lovely ladies, I’ll love you till I’m broke,” he promised, grabbing lewdly at his crotch to emphasizing what he was there for. “Seven months at sea and now I’m hungry for a poke.”

The third shoved himself between the other two, exclaiming excitedly, “Even stokers need a little stoke!”

The stage lights came on to illuminate the set made up of shipping crates and mooring pillars where the prostitutes had gathered. Rachel smiled seductively, bending forward to show off her cleavage and entice one of the sailors.

“Lovely ladies, waiting for a bite,” the group of women sang, their voices ringing out harshly. They bent over enticingly, showing off their bodies and lifting their skirts to put their legs on display for the men that were gathering around them. “Waiting for the customers who only come at night. Lovely ladies, ready for the call. Standing up or lying down or any way at all. Bargain prices up against the wall!”

A spotlight fell on Fantine, who stood out in contrast to the prostitutes with her clean calico dress and decent looking shawl. An old woman approached her the prostitutes froze in place as they disputed the sale of Fantine’s precious necklace. Rachel listened to Fantine’s pleas for the crone to offer a more generous price before giving in out of desperation, keeping her mind focused on her own performance. Once the crone had gotten what she wanted, the music resumed, and the focus fell on the ensemble again.

“Lovely ladies, waiting in the dark,” they sang as men began to draw girls apart from the group. A tall man dressed far more finely than the women walked among them, pocketing money that they shoved into his hands and watching to make sure that the women were going off with customers. “Ready for a thick one or a quick one in the park.”

“Long time, short time,” one girl sang teasingly as a sailor pressed up behind her, his hands pressed against her bodice under her breasts to appear as if he was groping her. “Any time, my dear. Cost a little extra if you want to take all year.”

One sailor grabbed Rachel about the waist and lifted her off her seat. On cue, Rachel wrapped her legs about his waist as he spun her about, his hands under her ass to hold her up as he pressed her up against one of the pillars.

“Quick and cheap is underneath the pier!”

Again, the spotlight fell on Fantine as she was forced into another bargain, this time over her long auburn hair and she was unceremoniously dragged away to have it chopped off. When the spotlight fell back upon the prostitutes and their customers, Rachel’s sailor released her, making a show of nearly dropping her before adjusting his trousers suggestively.

One of the girls stumbled back to the crates, clutching her middle painfully. “God, I’m weary. Sick enough to drop. Belly burns like fire, will the bleeding ever stop?”

Their pimp stepped over as if to comfort her, gently stroking her cheek. “Cheer up, dearie. Show a happy face,” he urged. With sudden ferocity, he grabbed her hair and shook her harshly. “Plenty more like you here if you can’t keep up the pace.”

The young woman grabbed at his hand, trying to free herself. “Only joking,” she pleaded. “Dearie knows her place!” The pimp shoved her back to the others, waving her off to get back to work.

Fantine faltered back out onto the stage, her long hair gone and making her look childlike and incredibly vulnerable. She huddled away from the group, trying to make herself as unobtrusive as possible and avoid notice by the men on the docks. The pimp watched her with an appraising eye before demanding information from one of his girls.

“Give me the dirt,” he commanded, grabbing the arm of one of the prostitutes. “Who’s that bit over there?”

The girl tossed her hair back dismissively. “A bit of skirt. She’d the one sold her hair,” she explained.

Katya leaned over, hoping to appease their pimp. “She’s got a kid. Sends her all that she can,” she confided, earning a harsh shove for her efforts.

The pimp snorted dismissively. “I might have known. There is always some man,” he mused as he approached the terrified young woman. “Lovely lady, come along and join us! Lovely lady…”

Fantine drifted to where the other women were gathered, looking at them with an expression of shame and horror that this is what she had been reduced to. That she now found herself among women that she had looked down upon when she had other prospects and dreams. The whores watched her avidly, recognizing that another was about to join their sad sisterhood.

“Come one dearie, why all the fuss?” one of the women cooed at her, her tone betraying more than a little coarse edge while a second woman looked down her nose at the downtrodden woman.

“You’re no better than the rest of us,” she snapped, only to have the other women step in between her and their new sister.

“Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap,” Rachel sang sadly, expressing sympathy that like the rest of them, Fantine would not resort to selling herself if she had any other options.

“Join your sisters,” the pimp urged, kneeling to reach under Fantine’s skirt and feeling at her legs like she was a mare to be sold at market. “Make money in your sleep.”

A man in a sailor costume approached, eyeing Fantine appraisingly and one of the girls roughly pulled her shawl away, stripping her of what little protection it offered.

“That’s right dearie, let him have the lot,” one of the girls urged while another gave Fantine a knowing nod of approval.

“That’s right dearie… show him what you’ve got.”

With her chin raised as proudly as she could manage, Fantine walked to her awaiting customer, determined to maintain what dignity she could. He grasped her hand and dragged her out of sight.

The prostitutes gathered together, pushing away their customers and stepping away from their watchful pimp, expressing what defiance they could over their sad lot in life. Rachel and Katya stood together and held hands as they looked out defiantly at the audience, demanding respect from those what would look down upon them while taking advantage of their situations.

“Old men, young men, take ‘em as they come!” they proclaimed with as much pride as they could muster, expressing their hate for the men that used them. “Harbor rates and alley cats and every kind of scum!

“Poor men, rich men, leaders of the land. See them with their trousers off they’re never quite as grand!” they sang, flinging up their hands and mocking the customers who watched and had no idea of how much they were hated.

“All it takes is money in your hand!” they shouted, reaching out with grasping hands and clenched fists.

The music softened as the group of women drifted apart, pasting smiles on their faces and they returned to their customers. “Lovely ladies, going for a song… Got a lot of callers, but they never stay for long…”

Following Fantine’s arrest, Rachel hurried back to her dressing room to start getting ready for the Master of the House number. So far things were going well, and she had a grand total of ten minutes to fix her makeup and change costumes again. Kurt hadn’t lied to her about how much work went into being in the ensemble and she found herself racing against the clock to make sure that she was done on time. The corset and rags went back on their hanger and a makeup wipe got the worst of the prostitute paint off her face. She quickly retouched her foundation and adjusted her makeup with a softer hand before she changed into her simple peasant dress and cap.

Grabbing a few sips of water, she rushed back to the stage and was pleased to have made it in plenty of time. She spotted Kurt waiting nearby, working with one of the audio techs to fit his microphone and making his final preparations because he would be going on stage shortly afterwards and waved to catch his eye.

“You’re doing great!” he mouthed to her, earning a happy smile in response. She was working harder than she could ever have imagined doing, but everything was going well. Never before would she have ever believed just how important the ensemble was for the show but now she saw that their contribution was just as important as any of the leads. When the students playing the Thénardiers stepped out in their raggedy finery, she got mentally settled into her newest role. There were quite a few friends in the group for this scene, including several of Kurt’s Apple friends.

The sets was quickly changed out, going from a deep forest for the “Castle On A Cloud” number to the interior of a less than reputable inn. This was one of the more elaborate sets, with tables and benches and all the various items that one might expect to see in a tavern room. Rachel hurried to the bench where she was supposed to be seated. Picking up the tankard waiting for her, she took a breath and waited for the curtain to lights to illuminate the scene. This was going to be fun.

* * *

Finn knew that his hands were going to be in serious pain by the time the show ended with the way he was clapping. He was surprised that Rachel had a role in pretty much every major scene since the start of the show and had been bouncing back and forth between multiple roles. She went from beggar to prostitute to now a slightly drunk townswoman singing the praises of a rather dishonest innkeeper who was boasting about how he was ripping off his guests at every turn.

The show had been everything he expected and he was enjoying it immensely, but he found himself eagerly awaiting Kurt’s presence on the stage. Casting glances over at his family, he saw Burt checking his watch, the only hint of boredom that he would display. There was no way that his stepfather wouldn’t turn out to support Kurt, even though sitting through what was basically an opera wasn’t something that he’d really learned to enjoy just yet. His mother was just smiling, enjoying the show, and Sue…

Finn was glad that he wasn’t the one standing on the stage, because she looked like she was getting ready to storm up there and throw Jean Valjean aside so that her favorite could have his chance on the stage. She had clearly given up on feigning politeness and was impatiently tapping her finger against her raised knee, her frown deepening with every passing moment that passed without seeing her Porcelain.

The song with the innkeeper and his wife was a riot and Finn found himself laughing out loud at their bickering and criminal antics. After Valjean waltzed off his newly adopted daughter in his arms, the stage went dark and the name of the next location, Saint Michele flashed on the backdrop along with a date that showed years were passing between the two scenes. The stage lights came on to illuminate an elaborate set of slums teaming with the lower classes that one might find in any large city. Beggars, thieves, street vendors and prostitutes gathered in the city streets. The music was decidedly more tense as they went about the actions of their daily lives. The air of crushing poverty and abject misery was unavoidable as the struggle to survive was evident to the audience.

“Look down, look down, and see the beggars at your feet,” the people cried out as they made their way as best they could. “Look down and show some mercy if you can. Look down and see the sweepings of the streets. Look down, look down, upon your fellow man!”

A young boy of about ten years old emerged from the crowd to take the center stage, dressed in tattered pants and shirt and a dirty cap topping his dark-haired head. He looked to the crowd with a cocky smile and gave a little bow.

“How do you do? My name's Gavroche,” he introduced, singing in a bright clear voice. He spread his arms wide to draw attention to the crowd clustered behind him. “These are my people, here’s my patch. Nothing to look at, nothing posh. Nothing that you’d call up to scratch.”

Several young children fell in behind him, playing pranks and making petty thefts of fruit from the vendor’s cart. They were like Gavorche, dressed in threadbare clothing but trying to make the best of things and turning the slums into their playground.

“This is my school, my high society,” Gavorche proclaimed with a proud flourish. “Here in the slums of Saint Michele. We live on crumbs of humble piety. Tough on the teeth, but what the hell!

“Think you're poor? Think you're free? Follow me, follow me!” he cried out. With a wave, he set off with the other children following in his wake, running through the crowd to disappear into one of the buildings and then seen darting across a rooftop so they could watch the goings on of the people from above.

The buildings of the set pulled apart to create a town square where throngs of people gathered and went about their daily lives, making their way as best they could.

“Look down, and show some mercy if you can,” the beggars cried out, seeking aid from those who were barely better off. “Look down, look down, upon your fellow man.”

A tall, skinny girl in a red dress stepped forward, her skirt lifted enticingly to display a long leg. She was quickly embraced by a male passerby, who pressed his hand over her breast as began to kiss her throat. Before she could take the money he was waving enticingly before her, she was suddenly pulled away from her customer and shoved from behind by a woman dressed as an ancient crone.

“What you think yer at?” the old woman demanded venomously. “Hanging round me pitch? If you're new around here, girl, you've got a lot to learn.”

The younger woman stood her ground, turning on the old beggar. “Listen you old bat! Crazy bloody witch! 'Least I give my customers some pleasure in return,” she retorted, turning to try to gain the attention of any available men.

“I know what you give!” the old woman screeched, grabbing at the prostitute and tearing at her skirts to show her pantalettes. “Give 'em all the pox! Spread around your poison till they end up in a box!”

The prostitute’s pimp saw the altercation and hurried offer to run off the old beggar. “Leave the poor old cow,” he ordered, motioning for his girl to move away. “Move it, Madeleine! She used to be no better till the clap got to her brain.”

The level of desperation in the crowd increased, as none of them saw any way out of their situation. Hope was in short supply and all that was facing them was deepening poverty and starvation. “When's it gonna end?” they pleaded, “When we gonna live? Something's gotta happen now or something's gonna give...

“It'll come, it'll come, it'll come, It'll come, it'll come, it'll come…”

Through the crowd, two figures pushed their way forward, dressed far more richly than any of the townsfolks around them. Finn sat up straight in his seat at seeing that one of them was Kurt, dressed in an elegant suit with a dark jacket and tie fixed tightly about his throat. He carried a set of books under his arm, looking over the crowd with a fierce stare of pity and anger. Another young man, dressed in a similar fashion stood at his side, though the expression on his face was decidedly less severe.

Beside him, Finn felt Sue sitting up, now focusing her full attention on the stage. Carole silently clapped her hands in anticipation and delight and he glanced over to see Burt smiling widely at his son’s presence.

Kurt’s mouth was drawn in a harsh frown as turned about, looking at the mass of desperate people. “Where the leaders of the land? Where are the swells who run this show?” he demanded fiercely, his voice ringing out in righteous anger.

The young man playing Marius reached out to grasp Kurt’s shoulder in fellowship. “Only one man, and that's Lamarque,” he answered. “Speaks for these people here below.”

The poor people of St. Michele saw the well-dressed students and clustered about them, reaching out in desperation. “See our children fed! Help us in our shame!” they pleaded. “Something for a crust of bread, in Holy Jesus' name…”

Marius looked at the crowd of beggars with a compassionate stare, handing out leaflets that he had brought with him. “Lamarque is ill and fading fast! Won't last the week out so they say,” he told his friend, which only increased the level of anger in Kurt’s expression.

He turned to the crowd and saw what could be a rising tide to wipe away the injustice that he fought against. “With all the anger in the land, how long before the judgement day? Before we cut the fat ones down to size?” he spat ferociously, slashing his hand as if imitating a blade.

“Before the barricades arise?”

Kurt’s voice rang out gloriously through the theater, and Finn felt chills running down his spine. He had never seen his brother like that, expressing so much fury. He couldn’t remember ever hearing Kurt sing with so much power, his voice expressing all of his character’s anger over the injustice that he was witness to every day. Enjolras was so unlike Kurt in nature, expressing so much rage and righteousness. With just a few powerfully performed lines, Kurt stood out like a force of nature.

Sue’s strong hand suddenly grasped his again so tightly that it hurt. He turned in surprise to see her eyes wide and riveted to the stage, fixed totally on Kurt. His brother hovered hovering in the background handing out pamphlets to the poor while Marius flirted with Cosette and the Thénardier gang looked to rob Valjean before being run off by the police. She looked absolutely transfixed and the smile on her face for once didn’t have the edge of cruelty that he was so used to seeing.

Finn had always known that Kurt was one of Sue’s favored few, something he never begrudged his brother because he knew that Sue’s favor could be a double-edged sword. But even with that knowledge, her response to seeing him on stage was unexpected. It was so pure and genuine, and Finn knew that there was only a tiny percentage of people in this world that might garner such a reaction from the fearsome woman. Her sister, most certainly, had been one. And Becky. To know that Kurt had earned that as well gratified Finn quite a bit. However hard Kurt’s life had been, unquestionably it was made marginally better by having Sue Sylvester in his corner.

* * *

Kurt hadn’t quite known how it would feel during their first official performance, but it was nothing like even their final dress rehearsal. He felt almost high. He wasn’t so much playing Enjolras but channeling his revolutionary fire. He rode on the tide of Enjolras’s emotions, taking control of his compatriots and urging them towards taking up the fight against the government troops. It took coercion and a bit of browbeating, but even moon-eyed Marius was no longer resisting.

“Red, a world about to dawn!” the entire group sand passionately and Marius stepped forward to grasp Kurt’s hand, making it clear that he would stand with his friend. “Black, the night that ends at last!”

They finished to a rousing cheer and Kurt began to bark out orders, darting across the stage and sending the men into a flurry of action. There was no question of who the leader and Kurt expressed an air of well-honed authority over the other members of their group. “Well, Courfeyrac, do we have all the guns?” he demanded, before turning to the others. “Feuilly, Combeferre, our time is running short.

“Grantaire, put the bottle down!” he snapped fiercely, causing the drunkard to wave off his command dismissively and take a long gulp. “Do we have the guns we need?”

“Give me brandy on my breath and I’ll breathe them all to death,” Grantaire boasted playfully, earning a playful shove from one of the others.

Courfeyrac rushed forward to report, “In St. Antoine they’re with us to a man!”

“In Notre Dame, they’re tearing up the stones!” Combeferre reported happily, grasping the hand of Courfeyrac joyously.

“Twenty rifles good as new!” Feuilly called out, holding up their red banner proudly.

Through all the activity, Kurt remained dangerously calm as if he were the eye of a hurricane that was about to sweep down over Paris. He almost didn’t hear Gavroche coming in and yelling, “Listen!”

Joly was checking their ammunition stores. “Twenty rounds for every man!” he reported.

“Listen to me!” Gavroche cried out, nearly ignored as the men continued their reports.

“Double that in Port St. Cloud!”

“Listen everybody!” Gavroche yelled.

Lesgles hurried in. “Seven guns in St. Martin!”

Gavroche grasped Kurt’s arm, forcing his attention. When Kurt finally looked down at him, the boy said with somber quietness, “General Lamarque is dead!”

The group fell silent, shocked at the news, however unexpected, that the champion of the poor was gone. One of the young men who’d been wearing a cap and took it off and the men bowed their heads in respect, giving a moment of silence for the man that had embodied all of their ideals. Kurt got a faraway look in his eyes as the gravity of what this really meant struck home.

“Lemarque is dead,” he breathed almost in disbelief. He paused, letting it sink in before driving what this would bring about struck home before allowing himself to smile. “Lemarque! His death is the hour of fate! The people’s man. His death is the sign we await!”

He gathered the group, the other men listing intently to his every word. Kurt’s expression became one of dangerous anticipation. Kurt strode over to a set of steps and climbed up so that all could see him as he rallied them to action.

“On his funeral day they will honor his name,” he commanded the group as they watched intently. Even Grantaire, who stood back from the others watched carefully. “It’s a rallying cry that will reach every ear! In the death of Lemarque we will kindle the flame! They will see that the day of salvation is near!

“The time is near!” Kurt belted, his voice soaring with a strength that he was sure would be surprising to those who might have only noted his youthful appearance. He was a lion, uniting the Friends of the ABC and pushing them towards their mission with a fist raised in defiance. “Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer! Let us take the streets with no doubt in our hearts, but a jubilant shout! They will come, one and all! They will come when we call!”

The music drew to a dramatic close and the Friends of the ABC cheered and embraced on another now that the moment that they’d awaited appeared to finally have arrived. Kurt managed to keep from responding to the rousing applause of the audience, focused on keeping Enjolras’s pride and fervor fixed on his features. Knowing that his family was there watching him at that moment, seeing him standing on that magnificent stage and performing to the best of his ability meant more than he could ever express.

When the music began again, the members of the group began to chatter excitedly, but Kurt closed his eyes and lowered his hand, motioning for them the allowed a quiet intensity to take hold.

“Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men?” he began, letting the power in his voice reach throughout the theater. “It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again!”

He pressed his hand over his heart, clutching his waistcoat and emphasizing the importance of this one moment in their lives. “When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!”

His fervor seemed to feed into the passion of the other players as they fell in behind him, excited that the moment they’d been awaiting had finally arrived. Combeferre rallied the group to Enjolras, his expression bright with excitement as their leader stepped down the stairs.

“Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me?” he demanded, placing his hand confidently on Kurt’s shoulder to prove that he was firmly with Enjolras. “Beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?”

Courfeyrac joined them, holding out a rifle to Kurt. “Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!”

Kurt grasped the rifle and raised it over his head to the cheers of his fellows and lead the group to march about the stage. Even Grantaire followed along, though he appeared to be more enjoying the show than believed in their cause. The set parted to reveal the transition from the interior of a disreputable café to the square where townsfolk began to fall in behind the young men as they marched through the streets. Men danced with young women, twirling them about joyously as an air of celebration took hold.

“Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men?” the group sang, inspiring men and women to fall in behind them, joining in. “It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again!”

Kurt lead them along, raising the rifle in defiance, his face set in a proud smile. He was the clear leader, gathering evermore followers with every moment that passed.

“When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!”

Feuilly was standing on a balcony so he could look out over the crowd that had gathered, imploring them to join. “Will you give all you can give, so that our banner may advance?” he pleaded, his strong tenor voice ringing out. “Some will fall and some will live. Will you stand up and take your chance?

“The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of France!” He raised their red banner before dropping it down to be grabbed by one of the others.

One of the group had brought out the revolutionary banner on a pole and began to wave it as the group marched about the stage with Kurt in the lead, his voice lifted in rousing song as the revolutionary students followed in his way. The performance was so rousing that members of the audience began to sing along, inspired by the performance on the stage.

“Do you hear the people sing?, singing a song of angry men? It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!” the group sang proudly, their banner flying and the air on the stage taking on a celebratory mood. “When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!”

Kurt lead the group off stage, feeling the wild buzzing in his head from the powerful emotions and needed a moment to tamp down on the wild energy that he was picking up from the performance. Handing off the rifle to one of the prop techs, he took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to center himself. He had a few minutes while the Cosette and Marius duet was underway to get himself back under control and prepare for the next scene. He hurried to the quick-change area, knowing that he had only ten minutes before the his next cue.

* * *

Sue got up without a word to the Hummels when the houselights came on for intermission, needing to step outside for a moment and gather her thoughts for a bit. The past few hours had been astonishing for her.

She thought back to times long ago. When her Porcelain was so much younger, and she’d first taken him under her barbed wire wings. She appreciated his sharp wit and his cunning that reminded her of herself at times. He had always impressed her with his brash courage and determination to be himself no matter what anyone else said or did. He needed protection against the small-minded idiots who thought that just because he was gay that it gave them license to torment him every waking moment. Offering him a place on her squad was the best way she could protect him, because no one dared try anything with one of hers. It was when he tried to fly on his own that bad things had happened; things that she often couldn’t control.

Seeing him now, standing on that stage like he was born to be there caused something to bubble up in her that she wasn’t sure that she wanted to examine too closely. Maybe it was just indigestion.

“This is turning out to be some kind of night, isn’t it?” a voice said behind her.

Sue couldn’t help from smiling before turning about. “Burt, you should know better than to sneak up on me.”

The burly man just shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said blandly. “You kind of rushed out.”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, letting a trace of sharpness enter her voice. She never was one for soft feelings or concern from others.

Burt didn’t press further, knowing Sue well enough not to. It wasn’t as if they were really friends, but they had an odd mutual respect and understanding. Not to mention a particular shared personal interest.

He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and looked about the theater lobby. “You know, it’s going to mean a lot of Kurt that you came tonight,” he informed her. “Me too.”

She couldn’t help from snorting in amusing. “That would be a first. People usually aren’t happy to see me,” she acknowledged. She wasn’t embarrassed about that. Her reputation was, without question, a well-earned one. And one that she was actually proud of.

Burt smiled and nodded. “Well, Kurt will be,” he assured her honestly. He looked about the lobby, taking a moment to gather his thoughts.

“You know, I never did thank you.”

She looked up in surprise. “Whatever for?”

Burt pursed his lips thoughtfully, wanting to make sure that he chose just the right words. “For everything you did for Kurt when he was at McKinley,” he clarified. “With everything that he went through, I don’t know if he would have made it without you. You were one of the few people really willing to go to bat for him and we’ve never forgotten that.”

He approached her carefully, knowing that despite her tendency to overstep boundaries, she was sensitive to having her personal space invaded. She almost shivered when his hand gently touched her arm and looked into his face in astonishment.

Burt smiled gently. “Kurt is standing on that stage, in no small part, because of you. You may have gone about it in strange ways, but you encouraged him and supported him when not many others did. I just wanted you to know that. And to thank you for being there for my son.”

He stepped back, giving her space to compose herself. “I’d better get back inside,” he said with a huff. “The curtain will be going up soon.”

She nodded, inhaling deeply. “I’ll be in in just a minute,” she assured him.

Burt nodded in approval. “Good. Because Kurt’s going to be thrilled when he finds out that you were here on his opening night.”

Sue stood in the lobby, deep in thought as she tried to absorb what had just happened. She then gave herself a hard mental shake to get the cerebral cobwebs sorted out.

She barely made it back to her seat in time for the curtain to rise.

* * *

If anyone was to ask her afterwards what she most enjoyed about the show, Rachel knew what she would say. She couldn’t help from feeling thrilled to being on stage with Kurt and getting to watch him perform. Not that their characters would interact at all, but it felt good to be there with him along with Analisa, Katya and Jamie. Jamie would be playing one of the townsmen supporting the revolutionary students, while she and the girls played local women.

Despite the tension of the last battle, the atmosphere on the stage was one of quiet waiting for the next conflict and mourning over Eponine’s tragic death. As far as the students knew, Javert had met a just end at Valjean’s hands and they could take a moment of rest.

Seeing Kurt fully immersed in his character and portraying Enjolras so compellingly filled Rachel with joy and it was a pleasure… no, an honor to share the stage with him. She hoped that everyone sitting in that audience would realize that having the opportunity to watch him performing at this level was a real privilege.

For herself, she recognized what a gift it was to see it from such close range.

“Courfeyrac, you take the watch,” Kurt ordered with quiet gravity. “They won’t attack until it’s light.”

He looked around to the group. “Everyone stay awake. We must be ready for the fight. For our final fight. Let no one sleep tonight.”

Kurt’s voice took on a seriousness, as if realizing just what would be facing them at the dawn. “Marius… rest,” he commanded, placing a gentle hand on the other man’s shoulder. Rachel could only marvel quietly at the gentle strength in Kurt’s voice and keep her mind on her own performance.

Feuilly was seated at a broken table that had been set up next to the barricade and looked about at his tired, anguished friends and raised his bottle, hoping to cheer their spirits. “Drink with me, to days gone by,” he proposed. “Sing with me, the songs we knew.”

“Here’s to pretty girls who went to our heads,” Prouvaire toasted, snatching the bottle from Feuilly and raising it in tribute to the women who’d come out to support them.

“Here’s to witty girls who went to our beds,” Joly praised, catching a laughing Analisa and spinning her about before taking her in his arms.

“Here’s to them, and here’s to you,” the men sang gently, offering sad smiles to one another.

Grantaire staggered to his feet and raised his bottle mockingly to his friends. “Drink with me, to days gone by? Can it be you fear to die?” he demanded turning about to cast his accusing gaze on all of them. Some of the men took offense at Grantaire’s ridicule and Combeferre grasped him by the lapels of his jacket and shoved him away. The others shouted him down, angered at his pessimism.

Kurt shouldered his rifle and approached Grantaire, alarmed at the troubled man’s demeanor and tried to grasp his arm in support. Grantaire looked directly at him with sorrowful eyes. “Will the world remember you when you fall? Could it be your death means nothing at all? Is your life just one more lie?” he asked sadly, ignoring Kurt’s arms held open in an attempt to make peace with his friend.

Grantaire brushed him away and stormed past him, blaming Enjolras for landing them in this perilous situation and wanting nothing to do with him at the moment. One of them men hurried over to his side and pulled him into a comforting embrace.

Kurt watched Grantaire walk away from him and with sad resignation slowly climbed the barricade to take a position where he could both watch out for attack and keep an eye on his men. It was starting to become clear that the burdens of leadership were widening the rift between Enjolras and his friends.

The whole group on stage began to sing, with the women singing in counterpoint that added a lovely layer to the bittersweet melody. “Drink with me, to days gone by. To the life that used to be,” they sang.

Rachel smiled dreamily, and rested her head against the shoulder of one of the men who had his arm about her waist. “At the shrine of friendship never say die,” she sang along with the rest of women.

“Let the wine of friendship never run dry,” the men sang and some lead their chosen ladies off the stage for one last hurried tryst before the coming battle.

“Here’s to you… and here’s to me….”

Marius looked about the stage, finding no comfort with his friends as his thoughts were upon someone he thought lost to him. “Do I care if I should die?” he questioned sadly. “Now she goes across the sea…

“Life without Cosette means nothing at all. Will you weep, Cosette, should Marius fall? Will you weep, Cosette, for me?”

As the revolutionaries settled in to rest for the night, it gave Rachel a chance to just enjoy the performance of “Bring Him Home”. Unquestionably the actor playing Valjean was an exceptional talent and he sang the song beautifully, expressing all of the heartache and hope that the song demanded. But she couldn’t help from comparing his rendition to Kurt’s, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit that she would always consider her friend’s interpretation the gold standard. It didn’t matter that Kurt’s performance had led to a very painful downfall for her, because she’d very much deserved after the shameful way she had treated him. It was because Kurt was just that damn good.

She leaned against the body of the young man playing her lover and just savored the feeling of what they all were accomplishing.

* * *

Finn was leaning forward, watching intently as the stage lights softly glowed to give the impression of the coming dawn. Kurt was standing at the top of the barricade; Enjolras having stood watch all night and waiting for the people of Paris to rally behind them. The realization that no reinforcements were coming was striking Enjolras hard, evident by the bewildered and nearly lost expression on Kurt’s face.

He looked down at his followers from his spot on the barricade, the others looking to him for answers when he had none to give them. To see that behind the powerful revolutionary leader was a very young boy who’d gotten himself and his friends in way over their heads was a striking moment. “The people have not stirred,” he sang quietly, the realization that they were truly alone in this fight sinking in. “ We are abandoned by those who still live in fear. The people have not heard…”

Kurt inhaled deeply, visibly tamping down in the fear that Enjolras had to be feeling and trying to portray resolve and keep his people from panicking. “Yet we will not abandon those who cannot hear,” he assured his followers, trying to force a trace of confidence into his voice. “Let us not waste lives.

“Let all the women and fathers of children go from here,” he ordered, motioning for them to retreat.

The realization of what Enjolras’s orders entailed was not lost on his followers and the atmosphere about the barricade took on the feeling of a wake. Feuilly tried to instill a sense of hope in his fellows, smiling sadly as he raised his voice gently in song. “Drink with me to days gone by,” he urged. “Sing with me the songs we knew…”

The supporters that Enjolras was sending away realized that they were very likely leaving their friends and loved ones to face nearly certain death and there were hurried embraces and tears and kisses as they reluctantly withdrew from the fight. Their voices rang out softly as they unwillingly stepped away, lingering as long as they dared but finally leaving the fighters behind.

“At the shrine of friendship, raise your glass high,” they sang mournfully. “Let the wine of friendship never run dry. If I die… I die with you…”

No sooner that the noncombatants fled to safety that the fighting renewed. The revolutionaries hurried to their places on the barricade and fired desperately at the government troops. Kurt fired off several rounds before scrambling to the ground and getting reports of their status.

“How do we stand, Feuilly?” he demanded, his voice rising over the sounds of gunfire. “Make your report!”

The other young man appeared quite worried. “We’ve guns enough, but ammunition short,” he confirmed, causing Kurt to bow his head in despair when he realized just how dire their situation truly was.

Marius rushed up to Kurt. “Let me go into the streets,” he suggested urgently. “There are bodies all around. Ammunition to be had. Lots of bullets to be found!”

Kurt shook his head sternly, grasping Marius’s arm to keep him from climbing over the barricade. “I won’t let you go. It’s too much of a chance,” he insisted, not wanting to put his closest friend into more danger than they were already in. The other man would not be deterred, which told Finn just how dismal a position they found themselves in.

“The same is true for any man here!” Marius claimed firmly, refusing to let Enjolras place his life above any of the others.

“Let me go,” Valjean offered, willing to sacrifice himself to save his daughter’s love. “He’s no more than a boy. I am old. I have nothing to fear.”

The expression on Kurt’s face became pained at the realization that whoever he sent over the wall would likely meet their death and found it nearly impossible to choose. Send an older man who had proven himself to be a true ally or his dearest friend. But he reluctantly nodded and grasped Valjean’s hand. Before either man could do anything, it became apparent to the audience that the choice was to be taken out of Enjolras’s hands.

Gavroche scrambled to the top of the barricade and called out to the others, “You need someone quicker, and I volunteer!” he called out, ignoring the shouts of refusal from Kurt and the others before sliding over the wall.

Kurt rushed to the top of the barricade, trying to stop the boy but he was too late. The men shouted for Gavroche to come back, but the boy would not be deterred. From behind the wall, Finn could hear the boy singing as he sought to obtain the supplies that the revolutionaries so badly needed.

“So never kick a dog because he’s just a pup,” the boy warned, his voice echoing as the others watched helplessly. Shots fired and Finn could imagine the child ducking for cover while he tried to finish his mission. “We’ll fight like twenty armies and we won’t give up! So you’d better run for cover when the pup grows…”

A single shot rang out, causing Finn to flinch and the boy’s voice fell silent. Grantaire fell to his knees, covering his face in anguish. The men on the barricade bowed their heads in sorrow, giving the brave young boy a moment of silence in honor of his heroism. Valjean crossed himself, heartbroken that a child born into poverty never had the chance for anything better. Before they could properly mourn the child, a trumpet sounded to warn them to take up arms again.

“You on the barricade, listen to this!” a French military officer called out to the fighters from the other side of the wall. “The people of Paris sleep in their beds. You have no chance! No chance at all! Why throw your lives away?”

Kurt turned to his men, his face set in grim determination when he realized that their time had run out. “Let us die facing our foes,” he urged, drawing his followers close to him. “Make them bleed while we can.”

The men cheered, ready to take the fight to the government forces. “Make ‘em pay for every man!” Courfeyrac shouted in anger. Kurt nodded, his mouth drawing into a harsh snarl.

“Let others rise to take our place,” Kurt roared, clenching his fist in defiance. “Until the earth is free!”

The battle was chaotic, with men racing up the barricade and firing on the troops beyond them. Kurt stood at the top, firing his gun until he saw that Marius had fallen, wounded. Lights flashed to give the impression of gun and cannon fire and smoke drifted in the air. Dropping his weapon, Kurt jumped from the barricade and fell to his friend’s side, seeing that the wound was severe and Marius was apparently unconscious. Around him, bodies began to fall as more of his friends were struck down.

Hi face set in grim determination, Kurt clambered back up to the top of the barricade and grasped the pole for their flag. He pulled it free and waved it in defiance, to urge the men to fight on when his body suddenly jerked and Finn nearly cried out. Despite knowing the fate that awaited Kurt’s character, he was still taken by shock to see it actually happen. The flag fell Kurt’s his hand as his body slumped over. The lights flashed as the rest of the men met their fatal ends, the music reaching a crescendo as the fight drew to a close with the passionate students lying dead where they fell.

Finn felt himself gasp for breath, not liking the sight of his brother laying so still, even though he knew it was just pretend. Burt’s expression was one of shock, even though he’d know what would happen to Kurt’s character and his mother didn’t bother to hide her sniffling. He didn’t dare look at Sue or try to gage her reaction. If she caught him seeing her in an emotionally vulnerable state, there wouldn’t be a place he could hide.

That had been an amazing scene, because it had looked so much like a real battle, but he knew that applauding at that moment probably wasn’t the best thing to do at the moment. The scene was still ongoing, with Jean Valjean saving Marius and dragging him to safety. But he wanted to give Kurt’s and the other men playing the doomed fighters some kind of ovation. That was one of the most amazing, heartbreaking things he’d ever seen on a stage and it felt odd to just follow along with the story afterwards.

He was familiar with the musical, so the following scenes played out much the way he expected. The final confrontation between Valjean and Javert was incredibly compelling, the officer finally recognizing that the man that he’d pursued for so long was not the hardened criminal that he’d always believed and that he’d relentlessly haunted a man who hadn’t deserved it. Seeing the man’s generosity so many times, even having his own life spared and unable to accept that he’d been wrong for so long was impossible for him to stand and he threw himself into the river to die.

Good riddance, Finn thought to himself. No matter that he recognized his error, Javert was still an asshole. But he could admire the very neat effect in how the lights were used to give the illusion of the man falling from a great height to his death.

The next scene was the immediate aftermath of the battle as a group of women dressed in mourning clothes arrived at the site of the great battle, carrying small candles of remembrance. They found the remains of the barricade, with no trace of the young men that had fought there save for someone’s tricolored sash and the shredded red flag laying on the ground. One woman had a young girl at her side, letting the child hold the candle. He could see that one of them was Rachel, who looked incredibly sad as she and the others surveyed the wreckage around them and contemplated the sad loss of so many promising lives.

The music was soft and mournful as the women paid tribute to the young men that had died, placing down the candles respectfully on the ground. One of them looked about, her expression sorrowful as she tried to absorb the impact of what had happened there.

“Did you see them going off to fight?” she sang plaintively, kneeling down and crossing herself. “Children of the barricade who didn’t last the night.”

Another woman wiped at her eyes with the corner of her shawl as she placed her candle down on the floor. “Did you see them lying where they died?” she asked. “Someone used to cradle them, and kiss them when they cried.”

“Did you see them, lying side by side?” a pretty black girl sang, and Finn mentally identified her as one of Kurt’s friends from class.

“Who will wake them?” a young Asian woman sang sadly. “No one ever will.”

Rachel came to her side and placed a comforting arm about her. “No one ever told them that a summer day can kill,” she sang mournfully, her voice ringing out clearly like a bell.

Another woman shook her head sadly. “They were schoolboys. Never held a gun,” she reminded the others, bringing home the enormity of the tragedy and just how misguided their fight might have been. “Fighting for a new world that would rise up like the sun.

“Where’s that new world now the fighting’s done?”

One woman sighed, wrapping herself tightly in her dark shawl. “Nothing changes, nothing ever will,” she reminded the others sharply, her disappointment over the failed revolution evident. “Every year another brat, another mouth to fill.”

“Same old story, what’s the use of tears?” she demanded, grief warring with anger on her severe features. “What’s the use of praying of there’s nobody who hears.”

“Turning, turning, turning, turning through the years…” the group sang regretfully, those who had been kneeling rising to their feet and walking slowly in a wide circle that looked nearly like a dance as they trailed off the stage.

“Round and round the roundabout and back where you began… round and round and back where you began…”

As the women filed off the stage, Marius reappeared, dressed formally once again in a dark suit befitting his social status and leaning heavily on a wooden cane as he limped to the small memorial that the women had left behind. He looked exhausted, in pain and inconsolable as he faced the place where all of his friends had died. Finn could not imagine how it must feel, to be the last of them left alive and having to go on with his life.

Marius looked about, not attempting to hide the anguish on his face. “There’s a grief that can’t be spoken,” he sang, his voice breaking slightly to express the deep sadness in the young man. “There’s a pain goes on and on… Empty chairs at empty tables. Now my friends are dead and gone.”

He looked up at the sign for the café where they had previously gathered, and Finn could see the tears running down his cheeks. “Here they talked of revolution,” he reminded the audience. “Here it was they lit the flame. Here they sang about tomorrow, and tomorrow never came.”

Finn found himself wiping at his own eyes, feeling the man’s sorrow nearly viscerally. He had some wonderful friends that he counted as brothers and the idea of losing them all in one moment struck him at his core. The idea of waking up and finding out that Sam and Puck and… he bit his lip. To imagine that Kurt was gone tore at him. Even imagining so many wonderful people having their futures cut short, and all their amazing potential lost was absolutely heartrending.

“From the table in the corner, they could see a world reborn,” Marius reminisced, reminding the audience of the idealism that his fellows had shared. That they had truly wanted to remake the world into a more fair, just place. “They could see a world reborn. And they rose with voices ringing! I can hear them now!

“The very words that they had sung became their last communion. On the lowly barricade, at dawn…”

Marius’s voice broke, his grief overwhelming him with the crushing realization that he truly was the last one.

Behind Marius, through the darkness Finn could see figures emerging and his breath caught in his throat. Kurt was the most easily recognizable, his white shirt and red vest making him stand out as the ghosts of the deceased stepped into view, but they were all there. Enjolras, Grantaire, Gavroche… They calmly surrounded Marius, standing quietly as Marius battled the burden of guilt over being the only one to survive.

“Oh my friends… my friends,” Marius wept pleadingly. “Forgive me!”

One by one, the ghosts bent to pick up the memorial candles.

“That I live and you are gone,” Marius lamented. “There’s a grief that can’t be spoken. There’s a pain goes on and on.

“Oh my friends… my friends,” Marius cried out while the ghosts raised the candles high before swiftly blowing them out. “Don’t ask me what your sacrifice was for.”

The ghosts began to slip back into the darkness, fading out of view. Kurt had been the first to appear and the last to follow them, lingering with his closest friend for another half beat before slipping away.

As if sensing that he was alone again, Marius bowed his head in sorrow. “Empty chairs at empty tables. Where my friends will sing no more…”

Finn heard his mother’s sniffles and he reached out to take her hand. Burt was wiping at his eyes and even Sue was biting her lower lip to keep her emotions in check. It had been a powerful performance and the applause from the audience was well deserved.

He took a deep breath and readied himself for what he knew would be an amazing finale.

* * *

Kurt was grateful to have a few moments to rest before the finale and enjoy watching the rest of the show from the wings. His friends in the ensemble had hurried to make a quick change to ballgowns and suits for the wedding scene and were currently changing costumes for the final time. He found Rachel and the others emerging from the quick-change area and couldn’t help from pulling them into a group hug.

“We’re almost there,” he promised. They were only moments away from the final song and the dye would be cast. They had done their best and given the performances of their lives. Hopefully it would be well received because they’d worked so hard for so long.

From their place behind a screen that would shield them from the audience, they could watch Sean giving Jean Valjean the kind of glorious send off that the character deserved. Valjean was ready to face death, having secured Cosette’s future happiness with Marius and rose to join the ghosts of Fantine and Eponine.

“Take my hand, and lead me to salvation,” they sang gently while Cosette wept over her father’s death. Marius tried to comfort her while mourning the man who had saved his live. “Take my love, for love is everlasting.”

Valjean was looking upwards as a warm spotlight encased them in an ethereal glow. The lines of worry on his face seemed to fade as he faced his reward for a life well-lived. Kurt had to admit that the effect was quite engaging and would look remarkable from the audience.

On the stage, Cosette and Marius began to read the letter than Valjean had given her, holding one another close while Fantine and Eponine lead Valjean to his heavenly reward. “And remember, the truth that once was spoken. To love another person is to see the face of God...”

Kurt felt Rachel reaching over to squeeze his hand as the backlights came up behind them, giving them a ghostly appearance to the audience.

“Do you hear the people sing,” all of them began, their voices soft as if drifting on a breeze. “Lost in the valley of the night. It is the music of a people who are climbing to the light.

“For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies. Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.”

The screen raised so that the audience could fully see the figures of the entire cast, all the characters that had died and the ensemble players that had filled the stage. The street children, the bishop who’d been so kind to Jean Valjean, all the Friends of the ABC… even Javert joined them, having found some small redemption. Kurt stepped out proudly, flanked by his friends and castmates.

“They will live again in freedom in the garden of the Lord,” they sang, the sheer number of voices creating a layered wall of sound that, from Kurt’s perspective, sounded absolutely gorgeous. He looked out from the stage, seeing the audience beyond the lights and knew that the performers were giving them what they had come for.

“They will walk behind the plough share. They will put away the sword. The chain will be broken, and all men will have their reward!”

The cast step up to fall in line with Valjean, Eponine and Fantine, the three of them joining in with the full cast. Cosette and Marius joined in the singing and the entire cast launched into full voice.

“Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me?” Kurt sang out, trying to keep in character and not let the joyous smile that was threatening to escape touch his features. “Somewhere beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see?”

He puffed out his chest proudly and squared his shoulders, placing a comradely hand on Grantaire’s shoulder. “Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums. It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!”

The cast stepped to the front of the stage, filling it with their numbers and filling the theater with the glorious chorus of their voices. Now there were no stars or leads. There was just a group of people who had lived and endured and left their own mark on the world. Behind them, the lights glowed warm in tones of gold and red, giving the impression of a rising sun.

“Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade, is there a world you long to see? Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!”

He felt dampness on his cheeks and realized that he was crying. But that didn’t stop him from giving everything he had for the final notes. The entire cast threw their full beings into the last words, wanting to leave an indelible impression on those who had come to see them.

“Ohhhh….. ohhhh…. Tomorrow… comes!”

When the last note finally faded, Kurt almost didn’t hear the audience through the buzzing in his ears. He felt oddly detached, as if watching what was happening from some distant position and not standing on that stage. He saw the audience getting to their feet and applauding and cheering and it took him a moment to really grasp just what he and the others had accomplished that night. When his head cleared, the roar of applause was positively thunderous.

They had rehearsed the curtain call so that it would run smoothly. The group stepped back so that everyone would have their chance to take a bow and bask in the audience’s regard. Members of the ensemble were first, going forward in groups of ten and were surprisingly orderly for such a large group while the other members of the cast applauded their peers and gave them the respect that they deserved.

He watched as Rachel went out with other women of the ensemble, including Analisa, Katya and Mei, bowing and taking in the standing ovation. The expression on the girls’ faces was absolutely radiant and Rachel especially looked thrilled. He clapped for them, unable to resist giving a hoot of support for his friends.

The men in the ensemble went next, and Kurt cheered for Jamie and Tommy and Mitchel. All of the child actors then stepped forward, with special acknowledgement made for the ones who’d played Gavroche and the younger versions of and Eponine that night. He was so happy for them to have this kind of opportunity so early in their acting careers. He hoped that they remembered this night and that it would inspire them going forward for years to come.

It then became time for the named characters to take their bows and Kurt felt himself all but quivering as he waited for his turn. When the Friends of the ABC stepped forward, he was at the center of the line and couldn’t help from smiling when the applause from the audience seemed to grow louder. Each of them was given a chance to bow as individuals and as the leader of the group, Kurt was last. When it was his turn, the others stepped back and left Kurt to stand at the center of that large stage by himself, feeling the full weight of the audience’s regards and they cheered and clapped for him. His throat tight from holding in his emotions, he bowed again, one hand over his heart before stepping back to join the others.

Once the cast was done, a smiling Professor Carmody stepped out onto the stage and was applauded by both the audience and the cast for her tremendous accomplishment. She joined her students for one last bow as a group before the curtain came down, shielding them from the audience’s view. Behind the heavy velvet, Kurt could hear the muffled applause that only died down when the house lights came on.

Professor Carmody turned to her cast with a tired but satisfied smile on her face. “I’m not going to waste your time with congratulations, because you know how well you did,” she advised. She wiped at her eyes, brushing away joyous tears. “Go get yourselves cleaned up, because there’s a hell of a party waiting for all of you.

“Make sure that all of your costumes and props are accounted for,” she instructed firmly. “Don’t make the tech teams’ job harder than it needs to be. Be ready in an hour for the buses to take us to the gala. Miss them and you’re on your own getting there.” With another smile, she left her cast to get themselves sorted out.

With an exhausted sigh of relief the whole group fell into excited chatter as they turned to congratulate one another. Kurt felt many pats on his back and words of praise and he returned them whole heartedly. He found his friends, giving Jamie a tight hug of friendship as they congratulated on another. He ruffled Tommy’s hair, hugged Analisa and Katya and Mei… his eyes darted about for Rachel, seeing her talking with some of the other girls from the ensemble.

Watching her being part of a group, treating other performers as peers rather than supporters made Kurt’s heart swell. For all that he believed that Rachel had truly changed, there was still a faint question mark hanging over her. It was one thing for her not to set herself in direct competition with him, but how she would behave with people who truly would be competition for her… other actresses who had their own aspirations and goals was the real challenge. He knew that she had set this up as a challenge for herself; a test to see if she could really handle being in a supporting role with grace and give the show everything she could. That she succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations made him thrilled on her behalf.

He hurried to her side and pulled her into a tight hug, holding her close and pressing his face against her hair. She clutched at him tightly, her face against his shoulder and trembling slightly from the overflow of emotions. Kurt’s own emotions were cascading wildly through his brain and he felt that he might just fall apart without Rachel’s presence to ground him. They just held one another, trying to find a small eye of calm in a sea of activity around them.

Neither of the said a word, because there was nothing that needed to be said between them. They would praise one another’s performances later on, when they had a chance to mentally regroup. For now, all Kurt wanted to do was savor her presence and ponder how grateful he was to have shared this incredible experience with her.

They didn’t want to let go of one another, not with the heady emotions still bubbling up within them. But as the other members of the cast began to disperse and the tech teams moved to close things down for the night, they knew that they couldn’t hold onto that moment forever. But letting go of one another didn’t change things. They parted with the full knowledge of what they’d accomplished.

“We’d better start getting ready,” Rachel sighed, loosening her hold on her best friend and dabbing at her tearing eyes. “I don’t know about you, but there is no way I’m going to be late for this party. Not with that amazing dress you picked out for me.”

He couldn’t help from chuckling tiredly, bending to kiss her forehead. “I’ll see you in a little bit. Go make yourself gorgeous,” he urged with a smile.

He retreated to his dressing room where his castmates were busy cleaning up and getting ready for the party. When Kurt entered the cramped room, the other young men looked up and welcomed him with a rousing cheer.

“Hey, nice for you to join us fearless leader,” Ryan teased, having already stripped down to his shorts.

“Jezz, Ryan… put some fucking clothes on,” Eddie, who played Grantaire complained, throwing a dirty hand towel at the other man.

Jack grinned broadly. “Kurt, that was some job you did,” he praised. “It was really fantastic.”

“Thanks,” Kurt said thankfully, stripping off his shirt. “Everyone was amazing. You all did such a great job… it gave me something to measure up to.”

He would have loved a shower but there was no time for that. A spot wash with a damp cloth to get the sweat off his skin would have to suffice. He got all the stage paint off his face, taking special care to cleanse his skin and moisturize to keep his complexion from looking too ruddy. There wasn’t a whole lot that he could do with the mess that was his hair except bush it out and use some spray to try to hold it into place so that he didn’t look like a dust mop.

He checked the time on his phone and saw that Adam was probably only midway through the second act for his show. Knowing that they wouldn’t be able to talk until much later in the evening, he sent a quick text.

Just got off stage a few minutes ago. Think that things went pretty well. Will call you later tonight. Love you.

He hit “send” with a sigh. No use moping about what he couldn’t do anything about. There was a message from his brother that the show was great and they would see him at the party. That definitely improved his mood considerably.

“Hey Kurt, you’d better hurry up,” Ryan urged as he dressed. “Don’t want to miss the bus.”

Kurt smiled and nodded. “Give me five,” he requested, getting up from his table. While he wished that he could see Adam and be able to celebrate with him, there was no use dwelling on what couldn’t be changed. Adam would want him to enjoy himself and not fixate on his partner’s absence. He had a lot of people to celebrate with and this promised to be a wonderful evening. Adam would be the first person to urge him to go out, peacock a little and enjoy himself even if he couldn’t be there.

By the time the actors and crew loaded up onto the buses, Kurt’s mood had decidedly lightened. He was dressed in a fabulous suit and off to celebrate their successful performance. He was surrounded by friends and castmates and it was hard to feel badly about the one blemish on what had been an amazing evening. He deserved the chance to look back on what he’d just accomplished with pride and Adam would be the last person in the world to begrudge him that chance.

There would be many things to celebrate together when Adam returned home. This would be one more thing they could add to the list.

A/N - I was very fortunate to find video of a chapter that matched nearly exactly how I envisioned this production - staging, costuming and performances. If you want a clearer look at how I saw NYADA's production to play out, it's worth watching. The production was done in Madrid and entirely in Spanish and is very well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=les+miserables+madrid

#kadam fic #learning to fly #kurt hummel #adam crawford #rachel berry #burt hummel #finn hudson #carole hudson #sue sylvester #carmen tibideaux #nyada students #original characters #not blaine or klaine friendly

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salmankhanholics · 5 years

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★ Salman Khan: Who am I? Even I don't know myself!

iNTERVIEW: SALMAN KHAN

May 22, 2019

Salman Khan admits he has changed a lot over the years, opens up about future projects, joking that Dabangg will stop at 743rd instalment... He’s the boss even in a makeshift shamiana in the parking lot of a city studio. The night is young, and the mood is mellow. As he gears up to embark on a six-decade cinematic journey, Salman Khan, as always, is full of surprises. He cracks jokes with a straight face, shares changes that he’s noticed in himself without the slightest discomfiture and reveals plans that sound impossible but with Salman you can never tell. Excerpts from an interview: Your director Ali Abbas Zafar has said that Bharat is a film that could only be made with you because of the beautiful relationship you share with your father (Salim Khan)? Everyone shares a beautiful relationship with their parents. So, this film could have been made with anyone and they would have done complete justice to the film because the script is so beautiful. Ab bolne ke liye it can be said that because I share a beautiful relationship with my father, mother, sisters, brothers and friends I was the only choice but the fact is that had anyone else done it, it would have turned out just this way, maybe better. It’s an official adaptation of a Korean film, Ode To My Father… We’ve taken the rights of that film, but it’s changed a lot. Their culture is different from ours and when you adapt it, scenes change, moments change, the screenplay changes. But the plot has remained the same. Having written stories and screenplays yourself, what was it about this one that caught your attention? My visual of this film is that of two old men standing together at the end with tears in their eyes. Beta bhi buddha, baap aur buddha.. Since the age of nine, this guy has been waiting for something like this to happen… Ali says he now has a two-hero script for a film which he’d like to make with Shah Rukh Khan and you. I don’t know anything about this. At the moment there’s only Bharat. What does the word Bharat mean to you? It means my country, the country I love, and what I can do for it. Every year on Eid you come with a film which is like a gift... an Eidi for your fans. Films arrive during every festival, whenever one is ready, aa jaate hain. Dabangg 3 will come this Christmas and I’ve had releases during Diwali too. It’s just a coincidence that some of my films have opened around this time which makes people say that Eid is booked by Salman Khan. Arre, any actor can come during the festival, it’s a good date, a holiday, when people have got their salaries and their bonuses. Since this is the only entertainment we have, they come flocking to see their favourite heroes. It’s strange, when you are watching something on the digital platform, you watch alone, but when it’s a film, you always take family or friends along. Picture sab saath mein baith ke dekhte hain aur isse bonding ho jaati hai theatre ke andar. What kind of films did you grow up watching? The kind of films I’m making right now, and I went to the theatres to watch them. And believe me, the best kind of marketing for a film is still in-theatre promotion. The posters we saw in the foyer and the trailers we waited for, are what draw cinegoers. People come to the theatres to watch films all the time and for them posters must be tangaoed and trailers chalaoed so they know what’s arriving next.

There’s another Korean film, Veteran, around a detective and a crime syndicate…

Yeah, it’s an outstanding film. Atul (producer brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri) has acquired the rights of both Ode To My Father and Veteran. Will you feature in the Hindi adaptation of Veteran too? We will see about that. Dabangg 3 traces how neighbourhood rowdy Chulbul became Inspector Robinhood Pandey. What triggered off the idea of a prequel? The plot was in our minds when we were writing Dabangg. So the franchise was conceived as a three-part series. No, the first and the second parts which were linked lead up to the third. It was like iske baad yeh hoga aur third mein yeh hona chahiye. So there’s going to be a Dabangg 4, 5,6… Where do you stop? We will stop at (after pondering for a moment) Dabangg 743. It will spin for 700 years? No, we will finish everything Ek saal mein kitne aayenge? (Smiling) Aa jayenge. The TV show, Bigg Boss, has become synonymous with you but buzz is, you will not be hosting this season. True? I wish it were true but I’m doing it. What do you enjoy about getting people into the house every year? I don’t enjoy it. Endemol and Colors enjoy picking up people and putting them in the house who I have to then deal with. Sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I don’t enjoy it, not at all. But I get to learn a lot from them. Would you allow anyone to lock you into a house like that? I would never allow it, but unfortunately, I don’t have a choice. They do come and pick me up and block me. Not anymore… No? I hope not. As an actor you’re always playing characters written for you, in the process don’t you lose sight of the real Salman Khan? People write different characters for me and I think I am doing them differently, but they all turn out the same. That’s my speciality! Kitna bhi different le kar aao, they all end up looking alike. As Ali says, even when you are playing a character, Salman Khan doesn’t disappear 100 per cent. Perhaps that’s what your fans like… They come to see Salman Khan, but they need to see who I really am. Who am I? Even I don’t know myself. I have no idea. So you see a lot of changes in Salman today from the one who did Maine Pyar Kiya? Oh, yes. But your director, Sooraj Barjatya, says he saw the same “beautiful soul” of Maine Pyar Kiya a quarter of a century later in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo… Sooraj sees what he is in others. He has not lost his innocence and his niceness. But I know that naivety in me disappeared a long time ago. I see a huge change in me and that’s how it should be. You can’t have the same innocence at this age, you will look like an idiot. Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is reuniting with you on Inshallah after almost two decades mentioned that you simply picked up from where you had left off… That’s how it should be, whenever he and I meet, there is this connect It’s just not an actor-director relationship. Just because he was working with other actors, it didn’t have to hamper or spoil our equation. I work with other directors too, so should he. Now, we will be collaborating on this very sweet love story. The film pairs you with one of the most promising young talents we’ve had in recent years… See how she’s turned it around, from a student to now, it’s beautiful! And no one can take credit for her growth except Alia herself. Jo bhi bole humne usko banaya hai, is not to be believed. It’s Alia who has honed her talent. What’s it like to be working with this bundle of talent? A godown of talent will be meeting with a bundle of talent… (Laughs) Actually there’s no talent here. Tiger Zinda Hai 3 is expected to start soon... It might, I’ve still to hear the script. Right now, I have two films. Will Katrina Kaif return? Of course. Dabangg will always have Sonakshi (Sinha), Jackie (Jacqueline Fernandez) will always be a part of Kick and Tiger can never be made without Katrina. Talking of Jacqueline you brought art into her life… (Smiles) Yeah, she was painting a lot during Race 3. Planning to share some of your paintings with the world? There’s just no time to paint now, but in around three months time I’ll have an exhibition for sure. What about your other ventures? There was talk of you starting a restaurant… Restaurant? No, that’s not on the cards, but we are retailing in clothing, jewellery, gyms and equipment, with the focus being on quality and durability. Mashallah, all the ventures are doing well with plans of getting much bigger. As a producer you recently gave your nod to a romcom revolving around a wedding to be directed by Rohit Naiyar… Rohit was the assistant director on two films I’d done with Raj Kanwar. Minutes into the narration I stood up and began laughing. It’s one of the funniest scripts I have heard. Your wedding has become a national concern…. Yeah, I think I should announce it on May 23… (Laughs) Seriously, any plans? Not for some time. And children? You love them… (Smiles) I want children, but with children comes the mother. I don’t want the mother, but they need one. But I have a whole village to take care of them. Maybe I can work out a win-win situation for everyone.

#salman khan #bharat #bharat interview #text interview #being human #InshAllah #tiger 3 #tiger Zinda hai 3 #painting exhibition #painting

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dramallamadingdang · 6 years

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Question Meme: The Run-on Sentence Edition

Hi! I hurt myself again yesterday. No, not in an "self-harm" kind of way but more in the usual (for me) "mountain-climbing incident" sort of way (I hate scree; I was so close to that summit) and got lots of deep bruises and lacerations for my troubles and was in a world of hurt by the time I saw a doctor, and I cracked something that isn't supposed to be cracked and it all hurts enough that I got prescribed narcotics again for a week and I really, really hate narcotics but I really, really like to be able to breathe without feeling like my lungs are being ripped to shreds, so...narcotics it is.

It might make the answers to this latest iteration of Ye Olde Question Meme rather entertaining, though. Maybe. Maybe just incoherent. Well, whatever, @nekosayuri tagged me, so it's her fault, and I'm bored and my sleep schedule's all outta whack and I haven't even turned on my Simming computer in like three days and am posting this from a non-Simming laptop, so I have nothing else to post and....yeah. So, I'm like high as a kite right now. I mean, it's not totally unusual because I live in Colorado and weed's legal here, but narcotics is a totally different and much less coherent high for me. So, like, fair warning.

I'm not tagging anyone, though. I've no idea who's done this lately...

Name: Katrina

Zodiac Sign: I don't know why I answer this because astrology is a huge crock of BS, but everyone always wants to know so...Taurus. Barely. (Birthday is April 23.)

Height: Still ~6'0"/~182cm. Yay, not shrinking yet!

Languages Spoken: Fluently? At this point, only English. I used to be pretty fluent in Italian and German, but, you know, the saying "use it or lose it" applies, and since I've not had occasion to use those languages much....Well, there we are. I could speak quite a bit of Russian at one time because I spent a chunk of years there, in the late 80s when it was the Soviet Union and shortly thereafter when things were sorta nuts there. But, again, I have lost much of what I once knew. And there are smatterings of other languages that I can speak mostly-useless bits of. I can ask where the restroom is in many languages because I've traveled a lot. :) I do speak fluent bullshit, though...

Nationality: 'Murican. And since 'Muricans are really, really into their "ancestry" for some bizarre-o reason because ‘Murican apparently isn’t good enough...Like, 95% dirty Welsh peasantry (plus some Irish and Scottish thrown in for flavor) on the paternal side and on the maternal side....Well, one of my great-grandfathers was a first cousin of the English Queen Victoria. So basically, my maternal ancestry is the very confused inbred multinational mutt that is European Aristocracy. God only knows what’s in their genes, though my particular bit of it has lots o’ German.

Favorite Fruit: Okra. It is a fruit. Look it up. Then again, much of what people call "vegetables" is, in fact, fruits, so there's that.

Favorite Scent: I've never really thought about this except when this was a question on a previous iteration of this meme that I did, and I don't remember what answer I came up with then. So I'm just gonna say...Vanilla-scented candles. Not cheap ones that just smell sickly-sweet sort-of-vanilla-y, but these ones that I buy online that smell...well...NOT sickly-sweet and like how vanilla really smells. Alternatively...snickerdoodles when they're baking. Hubby is baking me some snickerdoodles as I speak. Type. Whatever. The house smells really good. Baking bread is good, too. Before the snickerdoodles, hubby was baking the twice-weekly loaf of sourdough.

Favorite Color: Green. And/or orange. I go back and forth about which is really my favorite.

Favorite Animal: Elephants. Or hyenas. Or cats of all shapes/sizes. Or alpacas. Or llamas. Or snakes. Or spiders of all kinds. Or dragonflies. Or...Um, yeah, I'm pretty much a fan of all vertebrates and terrestrial invertebrates and some aquatic/oceanic invertebrates, too, so...take your pick.

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate all the way. I don't drink coffee because A) I think it tastes and smells disgusting, but even if that wasn't the case B) I can't have caffeine. Tea is OK. Hubby's way into herbal tea, grows/collects and dries herbs and makes his own blends and shit, and I'll drink it mostly to make him happy, but I'm not into it. I do like hot chocolate, though it's hard to find premade mixes that don’t have powdered milk in them (because I’m vegan), so I generally have to make it from scratch, so to speak, and when I do I use cashew milk as the base and I usually add either peppermint or vanilla extract for zing.

Favorite Fictional Character: Can't really pick a fave. So, have a list, probably but perhaps not really in preference order. Spock from Star Trek, who's been a fave of mine since I was 3 and was watching the original Trek in its initial run, and I announced I'd marry Spock one day. Rodney McKay from Stargate: Atlantis and Vala Mal Doran from Stargate SG-1. (Basically, if you cut up those two and glue various bits of their characters together -- and not necessarily their good bits -- you have...me. So I relate really well to both of them, so I like 'em.) Also Jack O'Neill from Stargate SG-1, but he's mostly for reasons of estrogen. (Especially if you stick 'im in dress blues. HUBBA!) Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because Cardassians Are Love. Jayne from Firefly, also for reasons of estrogen. Big, hairy, dark hair, blue eyes, solid but not too muscle-y...Yep, that's how I likes my men. And Zoe from Firefly, 'cuz OMG she's how I likes my women. HUBBA!

Dream Trip: *sigh* Still Antarctica. It's the only continent I've not been to, and I will get there before I croak, but...not yet.

When was your blog created? IIRC, it was, like, the middle of December 2013. So, I'll have had this thing 5 years soon.

Last Movie You’ve Seen: I couldn't sleep one day like a week ago, so I put on Miss Congeniality, which is one of my favorite movies because Michael Caine. When I can't sleep, I'll usually put on a really familiar movie or TV show and it lulls me to sleep, but it didn't work that time. :(

Song You’ve Had on Repeat: Englishman in New York, by Sting. I have no idea why, but it's been on repeat in my head, though I haven't actually played it lately or anything.

Favorite Candy: Not much of a sweets kind of person. I prefer salty-crunchy. I can eat a whole big bag of crisps (Like, the British ones, which are way better than American potato chips, but American ones will do) easily, but I can't even get through a whole candy bar because, ew, too sweet. That said, I do like Flake bars, but I have to go up to Canada to get 'em. Or else buy 'em online but then usually by the time I get them they're kinda smashed. Or melted. Or both. Better to go up to Canada. Where they have real chocolate and not this sickly-sweet Hershey's crap. *shudder*

Favorite Holiday: When in Canada, Canada Day is quite fun. It's like July 4th only not so...well...chest-beatingly, yahoo-y, "patriotic" 'Murican. (I really, really dislike nationalism and "patriotism" in general but especially the obnoxious 'Murican brand of it.) When in the UK, I have a fondness for Guy Fawkes Night. I guess I like fire and fireworks and things that go boom and shit, only without the "YAY AMERICA!" yelling of America's own "things that go boom" holiday. Other than that...Can't really say I'm into 'em much. They're not even "days off from work" since...Well, I've never had a "real job," and I'm pretty much retired from my unreal job these days.

Last Book You’ve Read: *cough* Does a really long and smutty and slashy Stargate: Atlantis fanfic count? I'm sad to say that, though I was a voracious reader of books when I was younger, I'm really not so much these days. Haven't been for the last decade or so, really. Not of actual books, at least. I do subscribe to and read a number of academic journals, some having to do with science and medicine and some having to do with history, but they're not books.

Favorite TV Show: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, mostly because it has Cardassians, who are all uniformly awesome, plus all the gritty political and religious goodness and stuff. Except that its last season kinda sucked and did totally WTF things with my second-favorite Cardassian. Close runner-up would be Stargate: Atlantis. Except that its last kinda season sucked, too, and did totally WTF things with McKay, so hmmm. Stargate SG-1 is good, too, except that half its team annoys the piss outta me...although this is largely made up for by the hotness that is Jack O'Neill so there's that. I like Firefly a lot but it was so short-lived that it's hard to really be a favorite because I can watch the whole thing, including the movie, in less than a day. (And believe me. I have.) I like the other Star Treks, too, especially if I'm in the mood for the "goofy soap opera in space" that is Voyager. TNG's shiny-happy Roddenberryness kinda bores the piss outta me, though it does have a few really good episodes, and the original show...Hmmm...Well, I both love and hate it. I love Spock, as I said, and I also love McCoy and all of its secondary characters. The problem is that I hate Kirk. Like, viscerally hate him. Like, I want to punch his face in every time it's on-screen. If he'd just, y'know, been eaten by a salt vampire and Spock and everyone else was OK and went off and had cool space adventures battling giant space-going amoebas and shit, I'd be totally happy and that's what fanfic's for *cough*, but since Kirk doesn't get eaten by a salt vampire...well...

Who’d You Most Like to Have Lunch With? @holleyberry :) Dude, we should totally hook up (No, not THAT way!) when I'm in SoCal next. Which won't be soon if I have my way, but when I am there....

#non sims #meme #question meme

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zwei-the-penguin-with-a-pen · 6 years

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‘Once Upon Your Dead Body’

Yang punched at the effigy of her nightmare relentlessly, firing shots at it from time to time. She could hardly believe they were this close. She and Blake had been chasing him for years plural, but they had finally caught up to the horned maniac. Yang's left hand shook at the thought, but it calmed down and she returned to her punching spree.

Blake walked into the practice room just in time to see Yang tear off one of 'Adam''s appendages, blocking the synthetic arm as it careened toward her. "I hope you don't throw any of the real Adam at me!" Blake announced. Yang spun around and saw her, apologizing for tossing trash at her.

"I can't believe it's finally time. We've spent years training and tracking him, so long that it's crazy we're finally going to get him." Yang mused, snatching up her water bottle and spraying a few glugs into her mouth. Blake nodded and hugged Yang tightly.

"I know, Honeypot! It's nearly over! I can't wait to dance around his burning corpse!" Blake returned. Yang laughed, her warm breath tickling Blake's collarbone.

"Thank you for everything, Blake! For being with me through this, for tracking that bastard, everything..." Blake smiled at her girlfriend's words.

"Hey, I want him dead just as badly as you do! He cut off your arm, Yang! The one with the good hand, no less..." Blake tried to laugh, but this was not the time for joking. "He's hurt so many people for no good reason. He must be destroyed."

"He's hurt you more than anyone, Blake! He abused you, tried to kill your parents, and hacked off my good groping hand! You deserve to kill him!" Blake chortled at Yang. "Are you having second thoughts about the plan? We can take him, Panther. He's nowhere near the fighter he used to be, and we've vastly improved! We've got this!"

"We do!"

"So... do I get to keep his head?" Yang winked as Blake rolled her eyes.

"I'd prefer that you didn't, but I probably can't stop you!" Blake retorted. Yang laughed and kissed Blake. This led to more kissing, and the two of them retreated from the practice space into the bedchamber.

\/\/\/\/\/

"Ilia said his hideout is here. She and Sun are waiting in the wings on the off chance that this goes south." Blake told Yang as they came upon the hideout said to belong to Adam Taurus.

"The only thing that will be going south is me when we finish this! And no, that wasn't a sex joke!" Yang complained, forever fed up with the climate here in Mistral. She longed for the heat of Patch to kiss her skin. This rainy season she was not used to, and she could not wait to be away from it.

That would have to wait, though, until Adam Taurus fell at their feet. "It seems a bit odd that he would be squatting in a shack, Blake." She mentioned. Blake nodded.

"He's lived in worse, though. Being ousted from the New White Fang took a toll on his already fleeting sanity. This is actually nice compared to where he was the last time I caught up with him. Keep your guard up!" Blake stopped just short of the door, placing a small explosive in front of it. Yang shot a bullet at the bomb, and the blast blew the door open.

The two of them waited. A nervous wreck of a man with blazing crimson hair and bull's horns appeared in the doorway. "Fucking hell!" He yelled.

"Hell will be a blessing for you!" He heard, looking up to see a steel fist crash into his face. The mask that covered his eyes shattered as he crashed into a nearby garbage receptacle. Blake delivered a swift kick to the red bull, knocking him back toward Yang. Yang threw another punch, knocking Adam back into the house.

Yang and Blake followed him inside and closed and locked the door behind them.

"So, my love and her skank have finally come to die!" He muttered, hopping up from the floor and grabbing for his weapon. Blake grabbed Gambol Shroud and fired at Blush's trigger, launching Wilt toward Yang hilt-first. Yang snatched it out of the air and punched the blade with all her fiery might.

The red blade shattered, its millions of shards falling fast to the floor.

"Not today, Taurus!" Yang muttered with a scowl.

"Also, I'm not your love! Not even in your nightmares, you psycho!" Blake felt a mighty need to add that remark. Adam grabbed Blush and fired a round from it. Blake dodged and left one of her shadows to take that.

Suddenly Blakes surrounded the red bull. They formed a circle around their enemy.

"Ooh, I love it when she does this!" Yang cheered loudly. She and the seven Blakes closed in around Adam and pummeled him into submission. The copies held him in front of the real Blake and Yang.

"Adam Taurus, the creature of my nightmares! You took so much of my life from me! You abused and brainwashed me, you hunted me like some sort of animal, and you tried to kill everyone that I ever loved! You're a destructive monster and the world will be a better place without you in it!" Blake drew her katana and pointed it at Adam's throat. "Any last words?"

"I thought you were better than this." Adam attempted. Of course, he would try to manipulate and control her. "Would you truly kill me, my love?"

"For Remnant?" She slashed his face with the blade. "For Yang?" She kicked him in the chest, delighting in the sounds of his coughing. "And for everyone that your senseless violence has hurt?" She kneed him in the chin. He glared at her as her copies held him there.

She pushed the blade ever closer, the steel just shy of his skin. "For myself?" She grimaced at her ill-considered former partner, the maker of her suffering. Would she truly kill him?

"Well?" He taunted. It was a shame that would be his last word.

"Without question!" She answered. The steel married his skin, piercing his throat. Blood spurted from his mouth as Blake drove her weapon ever deeper. Yang threw a punch and fired a round into his neck, his head falling to the floor.

Ilia and Sun appeared with a few supplies for starting a fire. "That was incredible, Blake!" They both told her. Yang hugged Ilia and fist-bumped Sun.

"Are you sure I can't keep his head, Blake?" She joked again. Blake rolled her eyes, and Sun made a retching sound. Ilia seemed to like the idea, even if Blake didn't.

"Again, I'd rather not be reminded of him, Yang."

"Cool. Can we put it in the fire last, though?"

Blake grinned, her cat ears wiggling with delight. "Sure, Honeypot!"

"Thanks, Glucose!" Sun spread the stray trash and kindling around the area as Ilia doused it all with flammable liquids and Burn Dust. Yang conjured a small fireball in her hand, and Blake blew the flames onto the pyre.

The entire place erupted into a glorious blaze. True to her word, Blake danced before the burning body of her and Yang's nightmares. The four of them filed out under cover of darkness before the authorities made the scene.

Blake and Yang could be at peace now. Their nightmare was dead.

"So, do I still get to be the best man?" Sun asked. "Or is Scale Face here getting the gig?" Ilia stuck her long tongue out at Sun.

"Well, Yang is letting Ruby and Weiss share her honor duties, so I guess I could get both of you!" Blake replied, the monkey and the chameleon smiling brightly.

"FUCK YEAH! WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!!" Yang cheered loudly, stopping mid-step to kiss Blake. The two of them spent a few moments attached at the face before the party finally continued.

\/\/\/\/\/

Day Nine: A Character Ten Years in the Future.

Granted, they probably wouldn’t take ten years to find Adam and kill him, but it IS in the future. So Yeah.

I can’t wait to see the Bees kill Adam. He’s a psychopathic man-baby and I long for his departure from life.

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keywestlou · 3 years

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POLITICAL DEBAUCHERY

Why the lies? Why the deception? Not by Trump. By the major companies and people who support him.

Take the issue as to the need to be vaccinated.

FOX News more than 200 times has suggested not getting vaccinated. Vaccinations unnecessary, even dangerous.

FOX has made vaccinations an issue with its employees. Get vaccinated or you’re fired! One or the other. No vaccination, no job.

Management and the broadcasters must get off on it. A form of political debauchery.

It has become known as “dismissive vaccine coverage.” Particularly dangerous to FOX’s older audience.

An example. A few weeks ago, FOX News host Laura Ingraham did what she has done over the past year: Scoffed at the danger posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

She was interviewing Florida’s Governor DeSantis at the time. Ingraham stated, “They just can’t let the pandemic go.” DeSantis agreed simultaneously dismissing the idea his State was at risk.

Since DeSantis’ appearance, his reelection committee has begun selling merchandise mocking pandemic restrictions. Also since the appearance, the 7 day average of new coronavirus cases has quadrupled in Florida.

The first Capitol offender charged with a felony has been sentenced. Eight months in prison.

The length of the sentence disgraceful.

Thirty eight year old Paul Hodgkins pled guilty last month to obstructing Congressional proceedings – specifically the counting of electoral votes. He had been in the Senate chamber 15 minutes wearing a Donald Trump tee shirt and carrying a Trump flag.

Federal Judge Randolph Moss said Hodgkins deserved some leniency because he pled guilty “exceptionally early,” was not involved in violence, and issued a “sincere apology.”

Judge Ross was wrong. Off base in the sentence. It was way too lenient. Hodgkins was involved in an insurrection in one of the most sacred American buildings. His presence alone warranted a significant sentence. Federal judges normally do give credit to a defendant who pleads “exceptionally early.” Hodgkins’ crime was not a normal one, however.

When was there a previous insurrection at the Capitol? Never! The insurrection itself was a “unique experience requiring a unique application of justice.”

Amazing. Defecate on the U.S. Capitol and walk away with a slap on the hand meager sentence!

The sentence imposed by Judge Ross has set a standard by which the other 500 plus defendants will expect to be sentenced.

Kasie Hunt. An outstanding TV journalist. Always charming. Right on. No bullshit. Called them as she saw them. Never wrong.

She announced last friday she was leaving MSNBC. A quick comment to that effect at the end of her 5 am show Way Too Early. She was interviewed later when she appeared on Morning Joe. No one asked her why she was leaving, where she was going, etc.

It now appears to have been revealed. Hunt is going to CNN. Her responsibility to develop streaming control platforms. A burgeoning area in television.

Money has to have been a part of her judgment factor. She was earning $250,000 a year at MSNBC. Her new position with CNN will pay between $1 million to $1.5 million per year.

No one can argue with her move.

The word on the street is NBC could not match CNN’s offer.

The college football season less than 2 months away. Coach Dino Barber announced Tony DeVito has the “edge” to be starting quarterback.

I am disappointed DeVito might be the starting quarterback. He failed last year. I was not impressed. He simply did not have it. I feel it will be the same this year.

Syracuse fans are desperate for a “good season.” It has been years. It should be a new quarterback for a new Carrier Dome.

The Olympic Village in Tokyo is being labeled “anti-sex.” The beds are constructed of cardboard and easily fall apart with more than a sleeping body on them.

The Olympic hierarchy claims the purpose of the cardboard beds is to prevent coronavirus from spreading.

The athletes look at it differently. They believe the real reason is “to avoid intimacy among athletes.”

All good the cardboard beds will do. Where there is a will there is a way. Youthful roaring sex drives will not be denied.

Gold, etc. from Atocha found again last friday. The strike did not provide anywhere near as much as in previous discoveries. However it will keep the Mel Fisher divers at their work.

The strike revealed 1 gold coin, 2 silver ones, and an ancient musket ball.

Atocha went down 400 years ago. The gold coin found still bright and shiny. It was 30 feet down under 10 feet of sand.

The diver comes from a family who have found gold and other items from Atocha in years gone by. In 1985, the diver’s father was part of the team that discovered a bonanza. One hundred sixty five pounds of gold finger bars and chains. At another time, his mother was part of the team that discovered treasure from the mother load itself.

I have begun sharing Steve Thompson’s recollections of Key West beginning in 1973 for a very simple reason. People want to know what went on back then.

Today TACOS paragraph 4.

I met the big guy named Bud Man / He had a glass of rose in his right hand / He always had a smile on his face / He rented me my first taco place / He owned the Old Anchor Inn next door / It was the old town underground drug store / All the locals called it the “Snake Pit” / ‘Till the Feds moved in and closed it / He invited me to his house one day / And immediately gave me a glass of rose / He had chickens and ducks and rabbits too / The doors were all open they just walked right through / Bud Man and Dorothy were legends here / They sure helped me out that whole first year / Everyone remembers Bud to this day / With that big warm smile and a glass of rose.

Tonight my blog talk radio show. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. Join me. Lots of fun. Louis ranting and raving. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

POLITICAL DEBAUCHERY was originally published on Key West Lou

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your-dietician · 3 years

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Dossier vs. Arizona State football program revealed

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/ncaa-football/dossier-vs-arizona-state-football-program-revealed/

Dossier vs. Arizona State football program revealed

The dossier of documents sent to the Arizona State compliance department and the NCAA enforcement department on May 31 begins with a blunt message about allegations of NCAA improprieties in the ASU football program.

“I am writing this letter to inform you about recruiting violations that are occurring at Arizona State University in their Football department. My objective is…providing enough information to assure you if Arizona State football is looked into, there will be violations found.”

From there, the letter provides, sometimes in meticulous detail, allegations of a series of potential NCAA violations. It specifically names 10 Arizona State “individual staff members to investigate” and lists 13 “illegal recruiting prospects” who visited campus during the COVID-19 dead period.

Overall, there are more than a dozen allegations in the dossier, which was viewed by Yahoo Sports this week. Some of the allegations are specific and have documented receipts and screenshots of emails the dossier cites as evidence of ASU staffers allegedly arranging trips for prospects to visit campus. Others are more general and do not have direct proof about a recruit visiting campus or a coach entertaining a parent at a restaurant in the dead period. ASU has confirmed the NCAA is investigating the allegations.

The dossier also includes a picture that’s alleged in the documents to be head coach Herm Edwards purportedly leading a top 100 recruit from the Class of 2022 around ASU’s weight room. Yahoo Sports could not independently verify the identity of the photo’s subjects, who have their backs to the camera.

Starting in the spring of 2020 and lasting until June 1, 2021, no school could host recruits on campus because of the NCAA-mandated dead period prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was legal for recruits to visit on their own and walk campus, which ASU assistant coaches claimed to Yahoo Sports some of the recruits did. What irked rivals throughout the Pac-12 and around college football was how brazen Arizona State was in allegedly breaking the rules because of the confluence of the competitive advantage and health risks during the pandemic.

Story continues

In totality, the breadth of the evidence and potential investigative leads provide significant building blocks for an NCAA case against Edwards and ASU. The volume of recruits named will give the NCAA the ability to offer immunity to the players and their families.

Arizona State head coach Herm Edwards is facing an NCAA investigation into potential recruiting violations. (Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)

While NCAA investigations are notoriously slow and generally ineffective because of the lack of subpoena power, the enforcement staff will have the powerful tool of being able to leverage the eligibility of players for the truth. Also, multiple former staff members have told Yahoo Sports that they are happy to cooperate with the NCAA, a rarity for an organization that often gets stonewalled by the code of silence many adopt in the sport.

ASU’s time in the crosshairs is unfolding amid a backdrop where one Pac-12 coach (David Shaw) and another league athletic director (Oregon State’s Scott Barnes) have publicly criticized ASU’s reported behavior. ASU’s lack of any announcement of specific personnel decisions tied to the allegations, silence from president Michael Crow and the lack of contrition in public comments by athletic director Ray Anderson — “It can’t be something that bogs us down,” he told azcentral.com — have set a compelling stage.

Crow and ASU declined comment to Yahoo Sports on Wednesday, saying the NCAA has asked them not to speak amid the investigation.

The most detailed part sent to the NCAA is documentation of flights for recruits that were alleged to have been arranged by three ASU assistant coaches: Chris Hawkins, Prentice Gill and Adam Breneman. That includes screenshots of emails that show Regina Jackson, the mother of star quarterback Jayden Daniels, allegedly helping book more than $1,100 in flights for recruits and the adults accompanying them on a recruiting trip from Florida, according to the documents. Daniels himself is not implicated with any wrongdoing in the document and Jackson denied any involvement helping ASU.

Anderson’s public ambivalence toward the allegations amplified the stakes at a university whose nine major NCAA violations in its history are more than any other school in the Power Five.

A picture and a group text chain

On the official Arizona State football calendar for coaches, Feb. 7 is clearly marked: “COACHES OFF.”

Still, the dossier of allegations includes a photo that is said to be of head coach Herm Edwards touring a top 100 recruit around the ASU football weight room. The picture provided to the NCAA and viewed by Yahoo Sports is taken from a distant stairwell. Neither Edwards nor the recruit are directly facing the camera, but the image captures a subject of Edwards’ stature wearing a maroon bucket hat Edwards often wears.

In the backdrop of the picture on an oversized weight room television is a women’s basketball game between Notre Dame and Louisville, which tipped off Feb. 7 at 2 p.m. at the Yum Center in Louisville.

The picture epitomizes the challenge facing Arizona State as it tries to navigate NCAA scrutiny while attempting to push through with its season. The Sun Devils return 20 starters and are trendy picks to win the Pac-12 South.

Nothing highlights the potential NCAA risk of that more than a recruit appearing to meet with Edwards. There is another specific allegation in the dossier of a recruit, who ended up signing with ASU, meeting with Edwards and two other assistant coaches in his “private office.”

The manner in which the picture and dossier emerged should also be of concern to ASU officials. Sources told Yahoo Sports that a group of nearly a dozen staffers communicated regularly on group text about the allegedly illicit activities in the program.

The point of the group text wasn’t to accumulate allegations and pictures with a time stamp. Rather, it was used as a real-time exclamation of the disbelief of what was happening in the program, a source said. That disbelief was accentuated as staffers saw coaches who weren’t participating in the alleged behavior pushed out of their jobs or had responsibilities stripped away as associate head coach Antonio Pierce gained power.

“That group text wasn’t necessarily to bring to the NCAA, but it was a way to say, ‘Look at how blatant they are being about it,’” said a source. “It was a way we scoffed at it, like, ‘Can you believe these guys?’”

As another source told Yahoo Sports: “It didn’t even seem like they wanted to hide it. It was so pervasive.”

Oct 19, 2019; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils head coach Herm Edwards reacts in the first quarter against the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Emailed receipts of plane ticket purchases for ASU recruits

There appear to be two layers to the alleged illegal visits that NCAA investigators will likely have to examine.

The first is the actual visits and any potential complicity of Edwards and the coaching staff in encouraging recruits to come to Tempe and escorting them through the facility at a time when that was explicitly barred at every program.

The second is how the players who came on the alleged visits paid for the travel, including plane tickets, meals and the hotels or other places that they stayed.

The documents provided to the NCAA offer a glimpse of some of the ways ASU coaches allegedly helped bring players to campus. The players listed in the documents who are alleged to have taken illicit visits to ASU during the dead period are from New York, Pennsylvania, California, Missouri, Texas, Nevada, Florida, Indiana and Nebraska.

Some are enrolled at ASU. Others committed to other schools or remain uncommitted. Some are committed to ASU in upcoming classes.

The most specificity in the documents comes with a group of three recruits who hail from Florida in the Class of 2022. All are highly regarded with offer sheets from blue-blood programs.

There are documents that show at least five tickets alleged to have been purchased by Regina Jackson, star quarterback Jayden Daniels’ mother, for the recruits and their guardians in March 2021. The tickets are emailed to Jackson directly from two different airlines and the receipts show the same credit card tied to the purchases.

Included in the dossier is an email forwarding a ticket for the guardian of one of the recruits. The email is from Jackson to an email address for Chris Hawkins, the ASU defensive backs coach. Hawkins then forwarded the ticket to the guardian. There are receipts explicitly listing the names of two recruits on their tickets with their flight locator numbers, and both are purchased by the credit card that the documents tie to Jackson.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Hawkins said he did not deny knowing the recruits were going to be in the area. He denied paying for or helping arrange the trip: “I’ve never paid a kid. I’ve never paid for a flight. I’ve never done any of that. I made $100,000 last year. I was the lowest-paid [Power Five] coach in America. I didn’t have the money to be paying players or paying for flights. I live check-to-check. I’m not one of the big guys yet.”

According to the document: “This image shows the credit card of Regina Jackson and the name, ticket number, for [a recruit]. Different ticket number than [another recruit] but same credit card as the other two.”

In multiple phone interviews Wednesday, Jackson denied any part in paying for the recruits to come to campus. She said in March she received notifications that her Google email account — the same one listed in the documents — “was compromised.” Then Jackson said she called her credit card company and canceled the charges after being notified of the flight charges on her card. “It’s unfortunate,” Jackson said. “My credit card company notified me of the charges and they sent me a new card. They charged everything back because they realized it wasn’t me.”

Jackson also said her Google account had no record of sending Hawkins an email and that the two know each other but don’t communicate via email. She added that she didn’t know the recruits or their families. “I did not support or help or do anything like that,” she said in reference to helping ASU recruit.

Jackson’s presence could prove a unique test of NCAA rules. While the history of college sports is rich with stories of parents accepting extra benefits, it’s exceedingly rare that the parent of a star player is linked to providing them.

Also included in the documents are email screenshots of Adam Breneman, the tight ends coach who was a graduate assistant at the time, sending a plane ticket from Philadelphia to Phoenix to a recruit on July 24, 2020, for a flight on July 25. The screenshot includes an email to the Google address of the recruit, who enrolled at a school in a different conference.

Included in the documents is a screenshot with a specific credit card number the documents allege is tied to Breneman. Breneman declined to comment to Yahoo Sports.

There’s also a screenshot of an American Airlines itinerary of a flight from St. Louis to Phoenix that’s emailed to the address of wide receivers coach Prentice Gill on Dec. 4, 2020. The email is for a ticket in the name of a recruit from Missouri, who was scheduled to fly to Phoenix later that day with a layover listed in Oklahoma City.

Gill told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday he did not get an email from American Airlines on that day: “I’ve never bought a kid anything. I’ve never given a kid money. I’ve never done any of that. I didn’t purchase his ticket. I didn’t pay for anything. I do know that he came to Arizona. He came and visited, he did. He told me that.”

What will NCAA do with allegations?

The NCAA would appear to have a chance at an effective case against ASU. Attorney Stu Brown, a veteran of NCAA probes who is not affiliated with the ASU investigation, said generally that the NCAA “tends to believe a student athlete or prospective student athlete more easily than they believe coaches, administrators or boosters.”

The 13 players listed in the document are believed to be only a portion of the total number who actually visited ASU, giving the NCAA a wide swath of athletes to interview — and use their eligibility as leverage for the truth.

“I think this would hit all those marks for the enforcement [staff] being the kind and the number of witnesses from which they would like to elicit testimony,” Brown said.

More from Yahoo Sports:

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daynamartinez22 · 3 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 319

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 391 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

What’s up everybody and welcome to the pre Christmas edition of Hump Day Hangouts. It’s Marco from Semantic Mastery. And my partners wishing you the best of what the season has have has to offer. And even if you don’t celebrate it, we still want you to have a fantastic fucking time regardless, man.

And so, with that, I am going to call on you as I see you. Oh, there we are. There’s a there’s an issue of he’s usually driving this wreck. I’m just going to continue man. We’re glad to have you here. We’re glad you’re you’re supporting Semantic Mastery. We’re glad you’ve been supporting us all this time. I see lots of you who have been with us seems like forever since we began. I am going to call on you from right to left on my screen. And so that means that you’re up, Adam. What’s up man? Married pre Christmas. Hey, likewise glad to see everyone Marco I’m glad you’ve got some holiday cheer I’m not sure what’s wrong with Chris you’re not and Bradley. No, nothing you guys Oh, there we go. Chris it’s a Christmas tradition man.

Yeah, that are here down but I was I was working in like cutting it close. And I didn’t have time to run downstairs and get my hat until I saw Marcos and I was like, oh man, so my bad. Well, that’s alright, we’re here for Hump Day Hangout. Yeah, things are going good here. I had blue skies and made it out for running the hills this morning and back for Hump Day Hangouts and then going to be doing have a couple day drinks. Running the hills. I guess.

This time it actually was but maybe I should have done the other thing now. I’m pretty similar. So anyways, I can’t complain, man. I’m happy to be here. Yeah, that’s it, man.

Thanks, Adam. Then I next saw Hernan coming on. What’s up man catches up. Yeah, good. Good. Everything is good, man. Everything’s good. Happy to be here. As usual. Happy to you know, spend some time with the family. Usually, we do the 24 nine and then the 25th. And we keep on eating up until I don’t know up until the seventh of January.

It’s good, man. Everything’s good. I’m happy to be here.

Cool. Brandon, what’s up, man? So man, happy to be here got a shit ton of work going on man. It’s uh, it’s crazy. But I can’t even slow down for the holidays much. I am taking some time off between or next week for the New Year’s holiday though. But I’m looking forward to Christmas. My I had a bunch of family in town that just actually left this morning to you know, they spent four or five days here in town, which was really cool. Got all my daughter and all her cousins together and it was a lot of fun. And

I’m looking forward for 20 2021 though. Hopefully it will be better than 2020

Unknown Speaker 2:52 s to be right. Na Chris What’s up man? Yeah, then good here. Forgot my head. But like, at least a font something to keep disappeared up. Out. Other than that, yeah, things are good. Unfortunately. No snow It seems this year here in where I’m living.

The rest is like tons of snow. But yeah, it is what it is. And yeah, looking forward to like the holidays.

I actually will take some time off. Starting tomorrow for

I don’t know pretty much the weekend, four days to get a bit of a time out and relax and come back to work. So yeah, fantastic, man. That’s for me. What can I say?

I kid don’t hate me. Don’t hate the player. Hate the game? Because is the game that allows me to do the do I do? Anyway, glad to have you. We are running an MGYB special for those of you don’t know. Adam, please drop the drop the page on this Hannah is giving people an early Christmas present. Everything Everything. I believe everything is got a coupon on it. So Merry fucking Christmas.

With that, unless anybody has other amounts. Oh, yeah, charity webinars, I’m sorry, the charity webinars. We are going to be starting them in about two weeks. They’re a little bit delayed because I’m trying to get all of the people together. Dixon Jones of inlinks has decided to come in and donate his time, which is fantastic because he’s going to be talking about content and entities. He’s the guy he started out as the marketing, I believe, manager or whatever he was at majestic. When it was really cool. Then he left and now he has inlinks which is which is a fabulous tool that we’re using every day for our content. And the only way that you get access to him is through our webinars where you can come and ask him anything you want. Listen to his presentation on on entity

He knocked me for a loop when I talked to him. And so that is what he is with Jordan basis training around what are one of the tools. And so he’s going to be there, I got my mike piers, coming on Jordan Fowler is going to talk about branding, branding and entities and how to guide the bat through all that. So we have some fantastic things we’re putting together. But it’s taking time because it’s so good, so many people, so many things that we’re giving away. And all it takes is a donation, and I’m gonna say it again, your heart will tell you whether you donate and your wallet will dictate how much so if only four you can give my kids is five bucks, what you would have spent on that cup of coffee, that’s fine. And if it’s 500 bucks, then that’s fine. I mean, they both will get you into the webinar. And in fact, the more you donate, the more the closer that you get to spending an hour with me on whatever you want, ask Marco anything, we can go over any of your project, we can go over anything, it’s up to you. And so that’s what we’re having. That’s what we’re doing, I will announce it more formally. And if you guys want to donate, just send, and I’ll put that the email in the chat, the email that you send proof of donation to so that you can get notified for when the webinars start. So you will be placed on the mailing list. When you donate, send the proof that you’ve donated.

And then you will be pulled on our email list. And we will contact you with the email dates how to how to register how to sign up how to get access, you’re going to get access to the replays, you’re going to get everything. And with that.

Let’s do this.

Any other announcements?

Be good?

Work? Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. All right. Very good. Grab the screen.

Okay, y'all see my screen? Correct? Yeah, yep. There we got it.

What Are Your Thoughts On Social Signals And How It Supports The SEO Of The Money Site?

Alright, so it looks like the first question comes from Timmy. What’s your thoughts on social signals? Obviously ones from real accounts are topically relevant to support SEO to the money site? If so, you know, any good vendors? I mean, yes, social signals are, you know, I assume they’re good. If they’re from relevant audiences, real people that are engaging with the content, then I think those are are great for SEO. It’s the spam signals that we think are worthless. And it’s been a long time since I’ve done any testing. But I can’t imagine that.

Three or four years ago, when I did a lot of testing on social signals, just spam social signals that you would purchase from, you know, Fiverr, or any number of providers. And they really didn’t move the needle at all for SEO. And again, that was shit. That had to be four years ago now. And I can’t imagine that all of a sudden social signals, like spammy signals would be weighted any heavier than they were four years ago. So I can’t imagine that they actually do anything. But real relevant signals from, you know, active users, you got to think about what’s happening when somebody is engaging in a content liking, like, chances are they have a history of being interested in that content, or even even if it’s not a long term history in recent history. And that that’s those are good signals. because trust me, Google knows, has a profile of that. That person, right, like in other words, it has an idea of that user that Google user, web user, whatever you want to call them, that shows their recent search history, that type of you know, what their affinities are, which means like, what their long term likes are, what they’ve recently been engaging with, and all that kind of stuff. So if they were if somebody in that, you know, real user that has a real profile, real history, and they engage with your content, that’s that’s a really good signal, because it’s highly weighted. Remember, Google has access to the same kind of data now that Facebook does, like behavioral interest, and all that kind of stuff. So when a user engages on content, if Google can kind of wait, that engagement signal, I don’t, I don’t have any, like hard data to show that. But from the type of, you know, traffic that I’ve been purchasing from Google audiences and such, it just, it’s just logical that that would be waited. I don’t know Marco, what do you think?

Activity relevance, trust and authority, right, Google. Now that’s the social. John Mueller said that Google doesn’t pay attention to social signals. Man, that’s partial. No act. Yeah. Bullshit, but partially correct. There’s no such thing as a social signal. You don’t stand there with a beacon right with a flashlight with a with that gun.

That Fragen signaling na, look what I’m doing.

The signal that you’re sending is through those pixels is it’s through those links. It’s through the people coming through your analytics and search console, right? Because you see the activity there, whether they’re relevant and whether they’re coming from trusted, authoritative sources. Google is tracking everything. If you’re setting goals in your analytics, then Google is further tracking. Because now you can guide Google or what it is that you’re expecting your visitors to do on your website, a lot of things that you can now set up so that you send additional signals to Google. So Google is tracking wherever that person is coming from. And we’ll just use Facebook as an example. You’re running Facebook ads, and maybe the conversion is on your website. Or maybe it’s not on the ad, or maybe you just want to pixel that person, maybe you’re forming on some type of audience, a fifth of the affinity audiences, also audiences also in YouTube, all of the different things that you can do, where the relevance is, as Bradley said, The People’s History, what are their interests, because this, if you’re buying signals, these people are going to be going all over the place, they’re going to be going. It’s not a real history, like a real user, where you know, you have an affinity, when you’re online, whether you’re a Facebook person, and Instagram person, majority person, whatever you are, you have an affinity, whether it’s gaming, whether it’s educational, whether you consume, right, consume information, whatever it is. And so when that person comes through that link, believe me when I tell you that Google’s going to know anything and everything there is to know about that person, unless you just don’t go online.

Unless you don’t have everything set up the way that we tell you to. So how do you get those those people pay for them, pay Google, don’t go paying a vendor for that, pay Facebook, pay Google, through YouTube, pay Twitter, pay Instagram, pay Pinterest, because what you’re going to do is, especially now through AI, is you’re going to be able to fine tune your audience to that particular interest to that relevance. So that the further you go in, the likelier is that that this person is going to convert. Because now what you’re doing is you’re finding that person with that problem with that pain. And you’re you become a problem solver, you’re solving the problem that that person came online for, and maybe they didn’t even know that they had a pain or problem to solve. But you did such a good job of putting yourself in front of them that that they decided, Okay, I’m going to go purchase it because it’s something that I need that I realized, that I need. And that signal. I don’t care how many you get from from any vendor, that signal that you’re paying for that and it’s pennies on the dollar, so 100 bucks a month, and, and and and it’s gold that’s worth more than anything you can get. And let me finish. Why? Because that vendor those people that that vendor sends sense to you, they’re not going to convert, the value is only going to be temporary. And maybe they’ll pick up enough where they’ll send enough signals that Google sends you real people. But why not start with real people in the first place?

Yeah, and let me unpause the screen for a minute because I pulled up. Okay. So while Marco was talking, this is what this is just to demonstrate what I was talking about guys, this is Google Analytics. This is for semantic mastery. And if you go into audience now you have to have the Advanced Data Collection, whatever enabled on your analytics account, and switching over to ga for now Google Analytics for like, all of that is like it’s so much more data that you get with the Google Analytics for as opposed to Universal Analytics. But anyway, what I’m trying to get at was what we were just talking about guys, and this is proof of it here. So this is a month of traffic or the traffic that has come to Semantic mastery.com our website in the last month if you go into audience and you look at interests, you can see these are the affinity audiences right affinity means long term like an interest, a long term interest, they have an affinity for right and so these are the affinity audiences that have visited our site in the last month. And then these are the in market segments and market segments means within the last 30 days, they have been searching for content and engaging with consuming doing searches around keywords that are all relevant to or that means they’re likely in the market for whatever a product or service and you can see business owners services, advertising and marketing services is our top in market audience makes sense. There are some subsets of that are subcategories. SEO and SEM services, business services, business technology, web services, web design and development, it makes sense that our top three in market audiences or visitors were in these are top our top the most of our visitors Excuse me, I’m trying to explain this the most of our visitors that have come the top three in market audiences that they’re in, in our business services, right or subset, subcategories of business in market audience Business Services, right. And that makes a lot of sense because of what you know what our contents about. And then there’s other categories as well. But this just goes to show you that it’s very, you know, Google gives has a hell of a lot more data than what they used to have from its from visitors. And you can see that in analytics, you can start to optimize your content for that, or this can even give you some ideas as to which type of audiences to target if you’re purchasing traffic directly from Google for YouTube display, whatever. Somebody want to comment on that.

Okay, I thought I heard somebody. And also, the other thing is. Here’s an example I just showed this a couple days ago, have some traffic just from YouTube. And this what you know, Marco was saying, if you can buy really inexpensive, I know we were talking about social signals originally, but talking about generating traffic signals, remember activity, relevance, trust, and authority. And these are in market. Well, these different various audience types here. But these are YouTube ads that I’m running. And you can see that I just selected an IM stands for in market audience, Home and Garden home garden services for a landscaping and Tree Service Company. And I’m running YouTube ads for them. And you can see that my cost per click, this isn’t per view, the average cost per view is nine cents. I used to talk about using YouTube for for more for branding, for gaining views, but I’m getting a hell of a lot better at actually driving traffic to local clients now using YouTube ads and look at the clicks one point or dollar 66 per click average cost per click from it from a very relevant audience, right and market Home and Garden Home and Garden services. So those 83 clicks are highly weighted clicks, because they’re coming from audiences that are Google has determined are in market for Home and Garden services. So hopefully that makes sense. You know, I don’t care about Facebook likes, shares, tweets, and all that kind of stuff. If it’s just spam, if it’s from irrelevant, in fact, it’s nice to get them from irrelevant social signals from a relevant audience. So somebody that is really, truly engaging with the content, that’s great. But that’s harder to that’s harder to spam or to spoof. It’s almost, you know, it’s very difficult to, but you can purchase relevant traffic signals directly from Google or Facebook, or, you know, many of these different social platforms that also offer advertising services. Right. And so the point is, if you’re buying relevant traffic signals, right from from, from, or engagement, traffic and engagement signals from a relevant audience, it’s likely that they may end up liking tweeting, sharing, whatever anyway, because they were a relevant audience to begin with. So my point like what Marco was saying, I totally agree with it’s better to just go with this type of traffic, and you’re likely getting natural, organic social signals from that. Okay.

It’s a great question, though.

Do I know of any good vendors? Not really, I think SEO Butler has some, at least they used to be called SEO Butler. I’m not sure if they still are. But I know that they had some tiered social signals that apparently or from what I understand were worked pretty good. But I don’t know that those are still relevant, because again, I haven’t done any significant testing on just social signals in several years.

Great question though. All right.

How Do You Get A Strong SEO Effect For A One Page Website That Don’t Have Silos?

Next question is from rocket blaster. He says, I watched one of your videos on silos and it seems like that can really help you to rank with all the pages and links etc. But you said you only use GMB free sites now. That’s a one page website. Now I might have in that one particular video, there was a period of time where I was just building GMB assets without self hosted WordPress or self hosted sites as part of the projects and and for so for a period of months. That’s all I was doing and I was just using the GMB websites. We’re not I’m not doing near as many GM B’s now, because it’s much more difficult to get them number one, number two, they’re they’re much more much easier to get suspended now also. So I am working with workout self hosted sites now again.

So I just want to clarify that I am using self hosted sites as the primary website for each project that I’m working on now even if it has a GMB, the primary website is that self hosted site. But you don’t have I mean, again, you can use a self hosted site, you can use a Google site. So sites.google.com or the actual GMB website even though it’s one page, you still can silo those can’t talk about how to do that here because we cover that in local GMB Pro or in the mastermind or in our iOS Academy. Pretty much any one of our paid groups, but you can silo a GMB website. Yeah.

You can silo anything. Yeah. Right. Sure. So and as far as that, like, we have two case studies going.

One is HVAC. And another one.

Well, I’m not gonna say what it is free. But it they’re both being shared in the heavy hitter club, every hitter club. And so if you want more guidance on this on how it’s done on how to set up the GMB on how to silo, the GMB and how everything now works together. Regardless, I’ve always said that local is relative. And so I’m taking that and applying it now to a national build where there is a GMB but the GMB of course, is a service area and the service area is the US. And we’re using that I’m losing the hell out of getting fantastic results. Again, well, Monday, we’ll have a heavy hitter club webinar, where I’m going to be covering that Rob is going to be covering the HVAC the case study, and we’re going to be showing that and you can totally take that one page site and silo it because of the way the Google the way that Google saves the posts.

Yeah, yeah. And again, you know, you know, we talked about like siloing press releases as well. And you can go watch the free webinar on our YouTube channel where we talk about press release SEO, or press PR silo stacking. It’s the same webinar, but we talked about that. So you can silo press releases, right, you can silo a GMB website, you can silo, a regular website, you can silo a G site. So it’s all about, you know, theme mirroring, and that’s what we talked about. And so you can still do it with the GMB website. So because what do you do you put all of your information on that one page, there’s a limit to how much content you can put onto a GMB website.

Because I on a recent project, I actually reached that limit. And it’s kind of weird because you can you can add, like it doesn’t tell you you can’t add more. Like it doesn’t say you’ve added too much content if you paste a bunch of text onto the GMB website, but when you publish it, it will. Whatever that limit is it will just cut it off at the bottom the text at the bottom. And we’ll just put a little like greater than sign at the bottom. It’s weird. But anyways, uh, yeah, I mean I what I typically do is it depends on how many pages like if there’s multiple silos on the on the money site, for example. Or, if you were just going to use a GMB website, instead of a money site, I try to list you know, a couple of paragraphs about the main products or services that the business offers. Right, so I would put section headers even though you can’t edit the SEO elements of the page on a GMB website, you can still bold things and you can, you know, add spacing and line breaks and things like that so that it’s easier for the reader but it also is more logical and the content structure itself. So but you can also do outbound linking from the GMB website. So, you know, you can think about using strategic anchor text links within the GMB website to some of the other assets and your tier one, you know, entity assets essentially, so you can link out to those two. So there’s a lot of stuff that you can do with GMB websites. You don’t have to have a self hosted site or but the other thing I would always recommend is, even if you’re just planning on using GMB stuff, you’re still going to want it I mean, you absolutely should still get a Google site and an so as part of the SEO shield. So why not make the Google Site your primary money site for the asset if you don’t want to use self hosted sites fine. Use a Google site. I still think that’s better than just using the GMB website. Although you can get significant results with just the GMB website. We’ve proven that

Is There Any Content That We Can Automate To Keep The Gsite Fresh?

so also some good questions Pavlo. He says is there any content we can automate for the G site to keep it fresh? Marco, I know he says for you, but I want to give a couple suggestions first, and then you can take that one as well. Um, so Pablo, yeah, you can put think about iframe in a blogroll page in to a G site. Right. Or you can get more specific and you can, you know, and theming and I can’t get too much into this, but you can get more specific and you could use your website.

I’m just assuming you’re using WordPress, but let’s just make that assumption. But remember with WordPress if you know if you use tags properly, you’ve also got tag pages. So you can insert, you could iframe tag pages into the G site. Same thing goes for categories, right category pages, which are like blogroll pages for specific categories. The same thing with tag pages, right? It’s for any, it’ll list all of the posts that or pages if you add tags to pages that share that tag. So think about using iframes to automate, you know, from a dynamic content source, like a WordPress site to auto update g sites. There’s an again, that’s all iframe stuff. Also RSS feeds. Remember, you can embed an RSS feed using the feed burner buzz boost embed code. So you create the buzz boost embed code using Feedburner. And then you can use your blog RSS feed or your tag pages. Remember, each tag has its own RSS feed, each category has its own RSS feed. So you can burn different feeds and then use the buzz boost embed code to also automate, you know dynamic content onto a G site. Marketing once I take that one, yeah, people forget. And I don’t know if he’s in our academy reloaded, but the entire foundation behind RYS and RYS Academy reloaded this iframe, and the way that iframes work, and with that, that’s enough to go and do whatever it is that you need to do, because we’ve ranked and outranked people with their own content using the iframe method, so the G site will outrank, we’ve our right brands, as a matter of fact, using their iframe. So people forget the original training. The foundational principles are iframes. Why do you think our dry stacks and G sites look the way they do?

That’s right. All right. So the next question was,

Is It Okay To Create Separate Gsites/Stacks Focused Around Specific Keyword Groups Like EMD As Part Of The Larger Drive Stack?

is it a good idea to create separate g sites or stacks focused around specific keyword groups, like an EMD as part of a larger drive stack? Yes, I mean, that’s that’s exactly what we teach. You create the the branded Gsite and drive stack. That’s, that’s part of your SEO shield. Anyway, once that’s created, as Google starts giving you your keyword targets, we call those extensions we sell you go to MGYB.co and order an extension for whatever it is that you’re doing that one is going to be, it can be location and keyword focus, or just keyword focus. So if you have multiple locations, you would want to relate the keywords to those multiple locations. And if not, then you would want to just isolate that keyword in that stack treating it like a silo. So we go back to siloing. And how important siloing is, people have said that and I can’t believe either saying that siloing doesn’t matter, anyone that they calling it something else. And you’re not understanding the basic foundations of what a what a bot does, when it comes on to a page and when it follows the links that lead from that page to another page, especially when the content is relevant. And siloing is working just as well, today, as when, I don’t know if Bruce clay is the one who coined the phrase siloing or whoever it was, whoever was that came up with that it’s still as relevant, maybe more relevant today, because of the way that AI is focusing on entities and relevance. Yep. I agree. semantic relevance.

So just to clarify, though, it’s not about creating separate g sites, or stacks, right? Or it’s about expanding a stack. Does that make sense in siloing, or theme mirroring within your stack and your G site. That’s, that’s, that’s the preferred method, because remember, you powering up that g site and that entity that brand.

And so instead of having separate entities, which is kind of like what you would do if you had separate g sites and separate stacks, if they’re related or relevant, there’s some sort of connection between topics or services or whatever, then it’s better to have it all underneath one brand. Because then, you know, as you continue to power up that entity, every time you add another expansion, so like another another silo, essentially, it’s going to instantly benefit from the authority that’s already accrued to the main entity. Does that make sense? So it’s way better off. Otherwise, you’re starting over from square one with each new stack or each new g site. So you’re better off, taking advantage of the authority that you’re building to your primary brand. That’s what that’s why we teach it that way.

Could You Elaborate Golden Frame?

Jay says in one of your videos, I heard Marco mentioned something called the Golden frame. Can you elaborate a bit more about this? Yeah, it’s just your money site, your, whatever your primary asset is for the brand or for the entity, your golden frame, your Epicenter, right? ground zero, so to speak. And typically, that is a self hosted site. But it doesn’t have to be it’s whatever your primary digital asset is, for your brand or your entity. Marco, you want to comment on that?

He was asking about what the golden frame is. Yeah, I know. But I can’t, I’m trying to remember where and in which video, I mentioned that, because when we talk Golden framus, it’s simply the money site, whatever that may be, right, whether using a G site, a GMB up or whatever, WordPress, it can be HTML, it can be whatever, and then everything that surrounds that, that is part of that entity and that brand, but directly related, so your Facebook, your Twitter, all of your branded profiles, then become part of that golden frame. That’s what we call the bowl of rice, the golden frame, because that’s where you’re going to be making money. Especially when you start writing ads and Facebook, and as I said, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, anywhere else, anywhere, where your audience resides, and where you can target them to sell to them. You shouldn’t get a profile just just for the sake of branding. Your profile should be created with the idea that it’s going to make you money somehow it’s going to help you make money otherwise, then it’s just a link. Right, it’s just part of a PBN about a public blog network, that you’re claiming for Google. And that really isn’t doing any? Well, it’s reinforcing your entity, it’s validating the entity. It’s solidifying the entity, but it should be making your money. And you should always focus on how you branded and how you create all of these entity relationships. So that it actually amplifies and and if someone clicks out at tier two, right, let’s say something is thinking from tier two to your tier one branded, it actually brings that tier two link, a step closer, so I call it a de facto, tier one or tier one B, if you want to look at it, because of the way that Google applies the distance grant or how many hops, you are away from trusted and authoritative sources.

Is There A Way To Backup RYS Stacks In Case Google Shuts The Account Down?

So the next question was also as you guys use RYS stacks for lots of stuff, is there a way to backup all of this in case Google shuts the account down? Um, that’s a great question. Maybe Marco has an answer. The only way I know how to do that would be to download everything.

Which you could I guess, download it regularly. That way in case the account gets shut down, you can still upload them to a new Google account. But you’d have to convert files because I don’t think you can download like a Google Sheet, for example, or a Google Doc as it is, I think you’d have to download it as like a Word file, or something or an Excel file or CSV file or something like that. So that it would be available to upload to a Drive account if if it were to get the original where to get terminated. Marco, is there anything that we do for backups, I think we shared a script where you can clone your drive stack, and even clone it. But but we also become, I don’t know how much I can give away here because that we’re going into into regular shit Academy secrets.

We gave you a script, we showed you how to we showed you how to clone it, we showed you what to do with the folder so that you don’t lose it, right? If you ordered dry sex and G sites for a month, you get instructions on what to do with that drive stack a G site so you never again have to go into it and and lose access to it.

So you don’t ever get tagged for whatever, maybe the IP or whatever. But you can still go in there as a manager, but never again as as the owner. I mean, you leave that alone if you need access. at some future point. It’s done through the manager, not necessarily the owner. We tell you exactly what we what to do. When you order that from us and it’s information that is also an always Academy reloaded. The scripts are in RYS Academy Reloaded, that that’s how you would do it. That’s how you would back it up.

Very good.

Do You Have Any Good Examples Of Curated Content For SEO or Digital Service Agency Website?

Okay, so the next one is from Marty he says, Hey, SM This one’s for Bradley going to follow your advice and get a VA to curate content from my lead gen properties. Would you have any good examples of curated content for as an SEO or digital service agency website as this type of content allows you for lead gen or can agency sites use it to know? Okay, so listen, the best thing to do Marty would be to just go get content kingpin. I don’t know if we have any 12 Days of Christmas specials going on for that or not. But a content kingpin is the exact process that I use and have been since 2012. So we’re going on what, nine years now that I’ve been using that exact same content strategy. I’ve trained all my bloggers to do that.

And it doesn’t matter what industry it’s for. Well, let me let me rephrase that. I don’t know that I would do it for the legal or the medical industries, because there’s so many regulations and such. But for, you know, for a digital marketing agency, like for content for your own agency, absolutely. And I use it for all of my my clients, too. We do curated content for all of my clients. I don’t have any examples to show you specifically for curating content for agency type of content, but the format, the process is all the same. Right? It’s all the same. There’s nothing different about it. So I would highly recommend that you go get content kingpin, because that is exactly the process that we’ve used for years now to generate content.

Last thing is I brought this up. I think I left this. I think I deleted the website, though.

Yeah. And it’s not actually been suspended. I just deleted that subdomain. I could probably recover it. I was going to show you some examples here of See, look, a lot of these pages are still indexed. It’s interesting.

Yeah, I could restore that side. I probably should because this was always used as a years ago, when during the mass Semantic Mastery masterclass, which was a kind of mid level coaching group that we had, I did this Gainesville home pros local SEO project, and we use, you know, my prime, my primary blogger, Esther, she still works for me today, this was back in like shit five or six years ago that I built this damn site, I’ll have to restore it. So that it can be used as an example. But there was curated content on that you could even probably go to the Wayback Machine and take a look at it. I’m sure you could, you could go to the Wayback Machine to archive.org and go look up that URL, Gainesville, VA dot local home pros dotnet. And you can see curated content on that page. But again, if you pick up local kingpin, you’re going to have all of the training for exactly how we set up curated content machine and VA manage all of that. For me, it’s a fantastic product, it’s still the same exact process that I use today. I just put a VA she started a couple of months ago.

I wanted her to not only to curate but to work with Jordan, the way the Jordan talk content at POFU Live right. But the very first thing that I had her do was go through content kingpin. The very first thing I mean, yeah, without question, go and learn how to curate content and then we’ll go and because that’s so that’s the foundation now she can produce content whenever I need. Right curated content real quick and under and under an hour. She has just a fantastic piece of content. If I need a more content then she just goes in and curate some more but that’s the foundation man I keep telling people whatever it is that we share with you. We use it on our own stuff on our own clients or whatever it is that we’re setting up we use it

Yeah, yeah. And I was just trying to see if I could find I should just restore the site for what was in my hostess cleaning stuff up and I accidentally deleted that site so anyways, I was trying to pull it up just to give you an example Okay, here you go. So yeah, again, Gainesville VA dot local home pros dotnet and you can go through here and I believe you can click through to the pages and then you should go to the blog and then you should be able to take a look at I guess some of the images don’t carry over an archive maybe they don’t cache those but yeah, they do sure you sure they do. So there you go. That’s curated content right there guys and is this exact same process that I talked about and by the way this because there’s the let’s just take a look real quick home remodeling Gainesville VA I haven’t touched this project in six years still number two in maps the site has been dead Marco for God knows at least a year you saw god.org and look at it it’s still number two in maps

That’s insane. So anyways, yeah, go use that as kind of an example if you want to try to reverse engineer but to be honest with you just go pick up content kingpin. It’ll be worth your money, I promise.

Moving on.

Do You Have A Company Or System You Can Recommend To Make A Real Estate Brokerage Site Look Good?

Okay, I’m going to build out a real estate brokerage site using SEO bootcamp theme because it is ideal for on page SEO. You’re right about that. Do you have a company or system you can recommend to make the website look good? You mean like a design company a shit. Adam, do you have any ideas of like, I know because you deal with funnel builders and stuff all the time. Do you have any recommendations for a design company for? What I mean? I have a recommendation, but it depends on on your budget. Yeah, go for it. Marco I got some ideas, but no particular recommendations. Okay.

I mean it. Again, it’s not cheap, but look up moon and our marketing moon and our mo n a n d. o wl contact them and ask for a quote best in the business? Definitely. Yeah. And if I would just say if they’re looking for more of a, you know, get something quick, if you know enough that you can kind of manage someone that, you know, you can find people who do this, just make sure you know, you do your background research and look at some stuff they’ve built, you know, have them show you a few things. And I mean, you there’s a ton of people out there who can put together really good WordPress sites. So, yeah, yeah, and there’s a lot of companies out there now that will do that, you know, like, on a monthly retainer, and they’ll build sites for you, and all kinds of stuff, like design stuff, like, it’s crazy. So you can kind of look up for some of those, too.

So, uh, okay, yeah, cuz typically, if I have, like more than I just build normal, like WordPress sites that were theme based sites. And if I need anything beyond my crude design skills, then I just hired somebody from Upwork or something to do what I need. So

anyway, alright, so next is I’m working with a company, which is plugins, for ID x and home valuations, I just need to make the homepage look good.

Okay, yeah. And again, maybe maybe you just wouldn’t hit another option would be to get, there’s a lot of like, funnel builders and funnel designers out there that can create like a homepage, like a one page, like long type home page type thing that you could use as the home page. And then you could have the rest of the site, you know, on a traditional traditional WordPress, you know, framework that is a lot easier to manage, because it just be a particular theme or whatever. But if you’re looking for custom design for just the homepage, a lot of times you could do that with a funnel builder, or hire somebody as a funnel designer that will do a one page, like homepage version of a funnel that will work really, really well. And those are new, you can get for pretty enik fairly inexpensive. In fact, you could even go to like, Click Funnels marketplace, for example. And there’s other marketplaces out there that for group funnels, and you know, all those different kinds of funnel, I mean, there’s a funnel builders are a dime a dozen now, but many of them now have marketplaces, where you can go look at pre built designs that you can purchase. Or you can even contact the designers that are selling pre built funnels in the marketplace and ask them to build you a custom funnel or landing page or whatever. Okay?

Also, look, remember, that’s just a landing page, if you just need the front page done, it’s just a landing page. And then you can go to Upwork and find landing page builders, like I mean, from all over the world that and they show portfolio of their their work and all that kind of stuff. And that’s what I do I just go to Upwork and hire landing page voters when I need something specific done. I mean, that’s that’s what I was gonna say if it’s on a budget, go to a park. Yeah.

How Do You Get The Best SEO Results For Press Releases?

Next question, I already have subscribed it to a service for press releases, I have to unfold untold, those press releases before I guess, unload, I have to unload those press releases before I can switch over to press advantage. How do I get the best SEO SEO results? Maybe backlinking? With my current? Or how to utilize? Okay, I see what he’s saying.

Yeah, I mean, I don’t know, because it depends on i don’t i don’t know what service you’re using. And I know, it just it depends there. You know, I’ve had problems with some of the press release distribution services in the past where they inflate their distribution numbers by using a bunch of really shitty sites that end up looking toxic or becoming toxic. And you know, they’re they’re so they’re they’re not, it depends on what it is. I don’t know which network you’re using or distribution service you’re using.

I would recommend that you don’t use press releases to link directly to your money site. If you’re not sure of the sites in the distribution network. Like if you just don’t know how clean they are or spammy they may be, you’re better off linking to tier one entity assets from within press releases as opposed directly to your money site. So what I mean by that is your SEO showed assets, syndication, network properties, GMB properties, that kind of stuff. You use those as your target URLs within the press release, or press releases instead of linking directly to your money site and then yeah, you can just hammer the shit out of those press releases with backlinks

And that’s a great way to do it. It’s better to select try to select press releases that have, do follow links. But you know, that’s not necessary that you don’t have to do that. But if you can identify which press releases don’t purge, like in other words, they’re not deleted after 90 days or whatever. But also contained to follow links. If you can do that, then those would be the ones that you would use as target URLs for a link building campaign. Any comments on that?

Yeah, well, we love press advantage. We love Jeremy. There’s a reason why his press releases worked. So well. I mean, we talked to him constantly. And he’s constantly making improvements. And he’s constantly giving us virtually everything that we asked for to get the best SEO value out of the press releases. But it’s not only that, I mean, he has a good press release network. It’s not really just garbage sites, like a lot of press release companies have. So without knowing who it is that you’re using another one, I know, because I’m not going to put anybody down. I don’t want anybody getting getting trashed on here. Without knowing who your press release service is and what they’re doing. Like, I can’t tell you what effect link building is going to have on that. I can’t tell you whether you should get in bed, I can’t really say because I don’t know how much power you’re pushing. I know the power that you can get from press advantage. And I and then dedhia knows exactly what to do. When we turn over that that the press release report. Because this is a this is like my like my Mo, right? When I get a precedent, I get the PDF, I give it to Daddy, I say hit it. And he knows what to do. He will do the same thing for you guys. Yep.

All right, we got to be in here somewhere.

There it is, right there. Alright, so this was the other thing is just go to YouTube and search, press release SEO, you’ll find our video about I don’t know halfway down the page or whatever, or you or you can just go to our channel. So semantic mastery calm or youtube.com/semantic mastery and then just click right here, which is the channel search feature, and type in press release, SEO. And you’ll see that it pops right up. It’s the first video, I would watch that. It talks about how we use silos are how we silo press releases, and then stack them that it’s it and it follows our theme mirroring methodology. So it works really, really well. And I would recommend that that’s how you you start siloing your press releases together to I don’t care what your what distribution company you’re using, even if they’re spammy. If you’re using if you’re linking to tier one entity assets as your target URL from your press release silo, as opposed to your money site, then you can still power that up by doing silo press release silos. And that’s a great way to do it, even if they’re spammy. If you’re never linking directly from the press release to your money site. You’ve got nothing to worry about. Okay.

What Course Do You Recommend That Aims To Monetize A YouTube Channel Through Adsense And Affiliate Links?

All right, moving on. Uh, next one. I am in a full time job. And I don’t want to deal with clients. As of now I want to create a YouTube channel that I want to monetize with AdSense primarily and affiliate links. Which course would you recommend? I don’t know about AdSense stuff. But I know for YouTube and affiliate stuff, my go to source for training, and I’ve learned a lot from him over the years is Justin sarti.

He is it’s all that pretty much all he teaches is YouTube ads for affiliate marketers, right. So he talks about creating YouTube channel and then he talks about using ads to to for for affiliate offers. But he in some and in his training. He also talks about how to and Justin sardi.com right there. He’s, I’m sure you can find his training in here and you could or you could reach out to him or whatever. He’s got a free webinar. He’s got great stuff, Justin’s hands down the best that I know of, for YouTube ads stuff, especially for affiliate marketers. I learned I got I learned about YouTube ads and started using YouTube ads because of Justin, although he doesn’t teach anything about local he has in the past a little bit. But that’s not his. That’s not his his thing, right? His thing is affiliate marketing, using YouTube ads as the primary driver of traffic. And so and again, he’s got some really, really good training on that I’ve sent started finding others that teach about local lead gen using or lead generation for using YouTube ads. But this is really really good for affiliate stuff. And by the way, he also is the CO developer of tube sift, which is a fantastic tool for YouTube ads for for targeting, for finding placements, doing keyword research, all kinds of stuff. And that’s he’s the CO developer with Ted Chen, who created power suggest pro

So it’s a great tool, I highly recommend that and in fact, if you purchase some of his training depending on what level you buy from Justin sardi, a lot of times he’ll throw in, you know, tube sift for a year or for three months or whatever, depending on what you know what training program you buy. So I would highly recommend that you check out Justin sorry.

Anybody else have any recommendations for that?

No, sir. Okay.

Are The Links In The PRs Point To The IFTTT Ring Profile Pages Or Is It Syndicated Posts Within A Silo?

Okay, BB is up. And this is the real BB not to too many questions BB.

says, Hey, guys, number one about Marcus PR stack system is the links in the prs point to the IFTTT ring profiles pages, or is it just the syndicated posts within the silo? It depends on what you’re trying to do, baby. Yeah, but hang on, hang on a second, he keeps asking it and trying to get more information and more clarification on something that’s actually paid training, people have paid a lot for local PR Pro. And if we keep giving information for free, it’s a disservice to the people who have paid for the course, I think we’ve mentioned that enough, I am not going to get into how I do my PR stacking I set it up, you link them one to the other. That’s one thing the other one goes, wherever you need it to go. You need to have the data for where it is that you’re going to need it to go. And I’m not gonna say anything else about it. I’m not gonna clarify, I’m not gonna add anything to it. If you want the how, then that’s in the pay train. Yeah, join heavy hitter club. Maybe? That’s that’s way less expensive than Semantic Mastery, the mastermind I mean, or paying, you know, or, but I would, I would, I would recommend joining the heavy hitter club because those are the where you get all these types of questions. And like, you’ll see real live examples or draw diagrams, like all that kind of stuff. That’s what the that’s what that’s for. But yeah, I mean, and again, maybe it depends on what you’re trying to power up. So you have to know where you’re trying to push power. And that’s where you select where you talk, what your target URLs are going to be. Okay. Please give your thoughts on this saying SEO generally is for everything, and paid ads for high ticket items and branding only I call bullshit on that. I mean, you know, I generate leads using paid ads a lot.

I don’t know that, you know, technically, those are high ticket items, right? So if I’m generating like, let’s say I sell Tree Service leads at $40 apiece, right? Well, I can generate Tree Service leads using Google ads, right. And so that’s not a hot $40 lead is not high ticket for me, it might be for the Tree Service contractor that buys the lead from me for 40 bucks might be a high ticket lead that he buys. But 40 bucks is kind of a low purchase price, in my opinion. And I use ads, I use SEO for that and for and ads. So I don’t know who said that statement or where you read that statement. But you know, if you know how to use ads correctly, it’s not. It’s not it’s not just about for branding and high ticket items, you can do all kinds of stuff. Again, I just talked about Justin sardi with affiliate marketing. And it’s crazy. But in his Facebook, I’m in several of his Facebook groups. And he teaches I mean, you know, there’s all the time people in there posting screenshots from their ads account showing, you know, conversions, cost per conversions on sales of affiliate products, you know, for like, sometimes under a few bucks, you know, and they’re selling these affiliate products. So that’s cost per acquisition or cost per conversion. And so again, it’s those aren’t high ticket items, but yet they’re able to do it, you know, all repeatedly, reliably and repeatedly using YouTube as a traffic source, which is paid ads. So again, I don’t know where you saw that. I totally disagree with that statement. Anybody else?

No, I totally agree with you, man. You can use you can use ads to complement your SEO, they’re not mutually exclusive. At all. Google wants you to think that they are and that you don’t get an SEO benefit from ads. That’s bullshit to me. Okay. So it might not be a cause and effect relationship between ads and rankings.

It could be some other kind of relationship. When you start seeing it over and over and over and over again, then.

Yeah, yeah. It’s there. It’s there. Yeah.

Do You Still Own And Maintain IFTTT Networks?

So social bugs me that’s Wayne Wayne says Bradley. Going back through syndication. training. So Syndication Academy, you mentioned you had over 300 sites in your property. You said you were having issues with Google killing your sites in the network. Curious, do you still have any networks and he’s still putting them into Okay, so you must be talking about now as many years ago, when I I was doing a lot of video SEO for a local video production company.

I would wholesale video seo services to the local product video production company and they would sell it retail to their video customers. So in other words, you know, before I came along, they were just selling one off videos, maybe occasionally they get a repeat buyer, but they didn’t have recurring revenue. And I pitched this company on selling them wholesale SEO Services, that they could then retail to their, you know, markup and retail to their, their video customers. And that would create recurring revenue and, and I don’t do that anymore. And the only reason I don’t do that anymore, I mean, I still, I still do video services for that same client, but I’m using Google Ads now for YouTube, Google ads for video to achieve the results that I used to achieve through video SEO, because it’s a hell of a lot easier. And I don’t have to worry about maintaining hundreds and hundreds of syndication sites like I did in the past. I don’t have to worry about any of that crap at all. I just set up paid ads and from relevant audiences from relevant geographic, you know area, and I’m able to achieve better results better reporting everything using Google ads for video. So at the time that I was doing all that video SEO stuff, I would, you know, I had in particular one, I had multiple video syndication networks, but you know, and I would say like great big, massive networks, but the biggest one that I had, God, I think at one point I had over 30 IFTTT rings which would end up being something like over 600 properties, web to Dotto properties, and then there was even when we started with SERPs when we formed SERP space, many years ago, we started developing a video distribution for the What did we call that video powerhouse? I think is what we called it at the time, but it was a monster man. Yeah, it was a video embed network video and or maps embed network, but at the time, I think it was strictly for videos. And we built out a whole bunch of like pbn sites, so self hosted domains, and each one of them got a syndication network around it, and when then we would embed the video to the self hosted site or the network of sites. And each one of the sites would then syndicate through IFTTT or the syndication network, to all of the web tos and that was massive. Um, but yeah, I mean, again, that’s stuff i don’t i don’t deal with anymore, because I just use YouTube ads for all that now, and it’s a hell of a lot easier and a lot easier to maintain. So hopefully, that makes sense.

Do You Still Build Networks Around Your Syndication Sites?

Okay, so the next question was, and I’ll come back to wills. He says number two, do you still bet build networks around your syndication sites? Well, I mean, no, not really. Because again, I would mainly build these multi tiered networks for you for video syndication, not for content syndication, like blog syndication. Because I’ve talked about this many, many times, it’s covered in the IFTTT training or the syndication Academy training. But when you have multiple tiered networks for con blog syndication, that creates footprint issues, there are ways to minimize the footprint but you can never eliminate it entirely. And that’s by using you know, adding applets with related or relevant RSS feed triggers from other sources. That kind of helps to bit you know, mix your content in with other relevant related content from other sources. But again, that becomes a bitch to maintain as well especially the more the more tiers you add, the more of a pain in the asset becomes to maintain. So again, I really don’t do that anymore. That was only for videos syndication networks that I would do that not for for blog syndication and so for blog syndication now I pretty much stick with just tier one branded networks and and just power those up significantly.

Good question, though. Well says Merry Christmas, guys. I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for all that you do for this community. You’re welcome. Well, thank you for showing up link for the charity webinars. I believe that was posted already. Thank you. Wayne says we got to wrap it up in a couple minutes. Wayne says don’t believe in matters so much based on the list. But why aren’t things including any sem or semantic mastery? Oh, geez. And the most influential SEOs of 2020 from the page optimizer Pro. Yeah, I saw that article. Actually. That’s okay. My feelings aren’t hurt. Thanks. Thanks, Wayne. Yeah, I didn’t know what went up. I’m not an influential SEO I’m just a guy who ranks shit way and I don’t I don’t live off people’s praise. It doesn’t do anything for for what I do.

Let them let them have their moment in the sun man is okay. Yeah. Yeah, I’m not looking for recognition on that front either I don’t care. I mean, it’s cool because I actually looked at that. And that’s that that article and that’s, um, that’s good for all of those guys. Congratulations to all those that are on that list. Fantastic. They’re probably really good at what they do. Uh, Wayne says Personally, I think you guys are in a different league together. Well, thanks, Wayne. Appreciate that.

Will You Make A Course For Making Money Through Paid Ads With Minimal Budget?

BB says will you make a course SM style for making money through paid ads, Google search, display native Facebook, Instagram, mobile ads, etc. The best methods with minimal budget and also scaling. I’m I’m actually working on a big project now for Semantic Mastery for the mastermind, which is going very extensively into Google ads for for display network YouTube, and call ads. Not so much search ads well, call ads are search ads, but they’re slightly slightly different. And also, soon, I’m going to also be working on what’s called discovery ads, but those are all in the Google Ads network. I don’t do any advertising outside of Google ads. Every time I’ve attempted to try to do Facebook ads, I failed miserably at them. And to be honest with you, I have no desire to do that. Hernan teaches Facebook ads as far as all the other ad platforms now? Absolutely not at least that’s not anywhere near in the near future. Because I all I use is Google ads. And again, that training I am doing specifically for local lead gen. And that’s going to be something that we’re going to be releasing sometime next year, probably middle of 2021 because I’m working on a very, very big project right now. For some for me, but we’ll also be coming training program for the mastermind. So

okay, we got to wrap it up guys. Sorry, we didn’t get to everybody. It was close. But we damn near got them all. But it’s five o'clock. We got to go. Post your question again for next week. first conference get guys donate to Marcos charity, if you can. And Marco I already forgot if you mentioned it, but what date will the webinars be starting? So like once we have it, we haven’t set the date set that that’s why just send proof of donation. And we’ll take care of you my VA will make sure that you get the link to sign up for the for the notifications and for everything that’s coming. Cool. And where should they send the proof of notification to? Oh, sure I didn’t I’ll write the email. All right, cool. Well, it’ll be on the page and if you’re watching, you can come back and head over or just go to semantic mastery comm HD questions and get it there.

And I feel like a dick for missing my Christmas hat. You should.

Hey, guys, bye everyone. Christmas, everybody. Later

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 319 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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localwebmgmt · 3 years

Text

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 319

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 391 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

Announcement

This time it actually was but maybe I should have done the other thing now. I’m pretty similar. So anyways, I can’t complain, man. I’m happy to be here. Yeah, that’s it, man.

It’s good, man. Everything’s good. I’m happy to be here.

I’m looking forward for 20 2021 though. Hopefully it will be better than 2020

The rest is like tons of snow. But yeah, it is what it is. And yeah, looking forward to like the holidays.

I actually will take some time off. Starting tomorrow for

I don’t know pretty much the weekend, four days to get a bit of a time out and relax and come back to work. So yeah, fantastic, man. That’s for me. What can I say?

Let’s do this.

Any other announcements?

Be good?

Work? Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. All right. Very good. Grab the screen.

Okay, y'all see my screen? Correct? Yeah, yep. There we got it.

What Are Your Thoughts On Social Signals And How It Supports The SEO Of The Money Site?

That Fragen signaling na, look what I’m doing.

It’s a great question, though.

Great question though. All right.

How Do You Get A Strong SEO Effect For A One Page Website That Don’t Have Silos?

You can silo anything. Yeah. Right. Sure. So and as far as that, like, we have two case studies going.

One is HVAC. And another one.

Is There Any Content That We Can Automate To Keep The Gsite Fresh?

That’s right. All right. So the next question was,

Is It Okay To Create Separate Gsites/Stacks Focused Around Specific Keyword Groups Like EMD As Part Of The Larger Drive Stack?

Could You Elaborate Golden Frame?

Is There A Way To Backup RYS Stacks In Case Google Shuts The Account Down?

Very good.

Do You Have Any Good Examples Of Curated Content For SEO or Digital Service Agency Website?

Last thing is I brought this up. I think I left this. I think I deleted the website, though.

Moving on.

Do You Have A Company Or System You Can Recommend To Make A Real Estate Brokerage Site Look Good?

anyway, alright, so next is I’m working with a company, which is plugins, for ID x and home valuations, I just need to make the homepage look good.

How Do You Get The Best SEO Results For Press Releases?

All right, we got to be in here somewhere.

What Course Do You Recommend That Aims To Monetize A YouTube Channel Through Adsense And Affiliate Links?

Anybody else have any recommendations for that?

No, sir. Okay.

Are The Links In The PRs Point To The IFTTT Ring Profile Pages Or Is It Syndicated Posts Within A Silo?

Okay, BB is up. And this is the real BB not to too many questions BB.

It could be some other kind of relationship. When you start seeing it over and over and over and over again, then.

Yeah, yeah. It’s there. It’s there. Yeah.

Do You Still Own And Maintain IFTTT Networks?

Do You Still Build Networks Around Your Syndication Sites?

Will You Make A Course For Making Money Through Paid Ads With Minimal Budget?

And I feel like a dick for missing my Christmas hat. You should.

Hey, guys, bye everyone. Christmas, everybody. Later

Source: Semantic Mastery Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 319 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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